Loves Innocence
by Sleazy E
Summary: Set before Balto 1, this story traces Balto's first meeting with Jenna, his past encounters with Steel, and his life as an outcast. All of which leads up to Balto the movie. None of the characters are owned by me.
1. Chapter 1

**Loves Innocence **

_By Sleazy E_

The wind picked up slightly as the young wolf/dog hybrid named Balto crossed the expansive stretch of white snow between the old fishing trawler and Nome. Balto raised his nose to the wind as he ran on in the dark. He couldn't smell anything different; just the usual smell of wood smoke mixed with meat and human effluence; not to mention the all encompassing smell of dogs. Nothing to big or exciting looked to be going on in the small town. Most of the houses appeared to be dark; their tenant's already deep beneath the covers hiding from the cold. The only place where the lamps still burned at full wick was the large and rowdy 'Nome Bar,' on the main street. Even from a half a mile out Balto could hear people in the bar talking, dancing, and playing music on the piano. But they were always loud on the weekends.

Balto slowed to a steady trot as he neared the edge of town and the buildings cast in shadow. His breath and heartbeat thundered in the silence around him as he peered left and right as far as he could see. He searched for a dog or human who might raise an alarm if they saw him sneaking into town. It was dangerous business for a wolf/dog to be around the town. The dogs weren't too much trouble though. They would bark and yell at Balto until their voices went hoarse. Sometimes if they caught Balto on the flat he would have to make a run for it. But Balto knew his awkward proportioned teenage body. He knew he could run faster than any dog in town, even the adults. He also knew he could out distance, out endure, and out speed anybody who wanted to give chase.

Then there were the humans. They truly were dangerous. Even though the humans weren't fast with their feet they possessed something even Balto couldn't outrun, a gun. Nothing made the fur on Balto's neck stand up like the thundering sound of a gun going off. Even as Balto stepped forwards to the shadows of the building he shuddered at the thought of the human gun's. A sobering reminder of their savage cruelty.

But Balto had a way of getting around the humans and dog when he went into town. He got the idea one day while cowering in the shadows near some garbage cans a few months back.

* * *

Balto had been pulled into the town one summer night by the unrelenting smell of spoiled fish the butcher had thrown out. The wind must have been in the right direction all day since the smell blew straight to the boat, making Balto's mouth salivate in a way it never had. Little dribbles of saliva covered the deck and Balto couldn't stop himself. By the time night fell, Balto could only think of going and getting the fish. _Three days without a morsel of food can bring out the bravery in anyone, _young Balto thought.

So Balto, still in a puppy body at the time, ran into town and commenced to sneaking about the shadows like he always did. He jumped from this can, to that shadow, to this box, to this porch. Often stopping and looking around before sprinting to his next bit of cover. Then somebody came noisily down an alley, a dog … no three adult dogs. Balto cowered out of sight between a garbage can and building as they came.

"So she comes over and tells me that I got to get out, and I says, 'for what? ' So then she starts telling me …" One of the dogs said ranting on.

Then suddenly a white and grey cat jumped out from under a nearby porch and bolted under the three dogs faces. Before the dogs even understood what happened, the cat had run up a plank onto a fence out of reach. The three dogs looked dimly at the cat on the fence licking his paws, completely safe from the dimwits below him.

The three dogs, not to be outdone by some uppity cat, barked and howled up at it. "Why don't yous come downs here and gives us some sport," one of the dogs barked. "You wise, no good tooting cat," another dog chimed. But the cat wasn't having anything to do with the dogs from his safe place.

The cat and his safe vantage gave Balto an idea. If a cat could find safety from the heights of Nome, then why couldn't he?

It took a while to learn to navigate the roofs, decks, and clotheslines of Nome. But nothing compared to how long it took to get the balance and grace to move adequately about. This grace and ability to move around the rooftops also came with his growing body. And so it happened with the help of some grey and white tabby that Balto learned.

* * *

Even now as Balto leapt from the silver garbage can to the shed roof and onto the house roof he remembered the cat. He smiled as he reached the peak of the house and looked over the rooftops of Nome. This was his territory. No dogs or humans ever came up here, and from up here he could go anywhere he wanted in Nome.

Balto didn't waste another moment in thought. He began to move about, to practice his graceful art of jumping from rooftop to rooftop like a phantom. Here and there Balto came upon spots which required a little more skill. Sometime he could jump and latch his teeth onto a clothesline and slide across. Other times he could balance on a board or beam and walk tiptoe. At some spots Balto had to go through the windows of abandoned building and come out somewhere else. Still other times he had to pole-vault with a board or pipe across to another roof. But nevertheless Balto moved nimbly, like a rooftop dancer born to play the part.

Tonight Balto had three things he wanted to do. First he wanted to go to the butcher's shop and see if anything tasty had been thrown in those gleaming silver cans. A_ growing boy needs to eat_, he thought with a smile. The second thing Balto wanted to do was find her. And the third thing Balto wanted to do, which happened to be something on his list of things to do for a long time now, was talk to her.

_Ahh, her, _Balto thought as he looked submissively across the town from a roof where he paused to breath. _Where is she right now, where is Jenna?_ He wondered about her with compassion glistening in his eyes like a palpable candle flame. She was so beautiful, her big brown eyes, her soft ears, her short muzzle with her small black nose on the end. Oh how delicate and powerful she looked. The image of her in Balto's mind lit up the darkness of the roof like a beacon, and his heart echoed a call of despair into the lonely expanses between him and her. Balto's mind trailed back into memory,to the memory of first meeting her two weeks earlier. How it went so wrong, yet so right.

* * *

It had been one of the first days of true winter, and something had been brewing in town all morning. Lots of voices mixed together in a great commotion, and music sprang forth from every window. Balto couldn't fathom what might be going on, and so ran to see what was happening. Like always he jumped to the roof and ran along towards the sound. When he finally came upon the commotion, he didn't understand it. People lined either side of the street in great herds dressed in winter clothes and tucked down under wool hats and scarfs. Here and there a child complained or played with a nearby friend in a loud piercing voice. A brass band tooted and twanged near a man in a top hat on a podium.

Dogs stood in lines, tied with leather ropes to a long rope connected to a sled. On the back of the sled a man stood staring off at the crowd or checking the sack on his sled. A dozen or more sleds with their dogs sat idly by. Balto looked down on it, mystified at such a human congregation. But the main part of the event had yet to begin.

As Balto watched from behind the safety of a roof ridge, he began to learn what the whole event was about. On one end of the street they had set up a banner over a red line in the snow. The banner – which Balto would realize in later years – read 'Start of the Nome 500.' Balto soon realized, without having to read, some sort of race with sled dogs was going on. But before they started the big dogs off they had a smaller race with puppies - which proved to Balto's questioning mind this was indeed a race. The owners stood with their dogs at the starting line, and when the man in the top hat fired his gun in the air – which made Balto cringe and duck down – the puppies ran down the street to another banner which read 'finish'. At each of the six races the people cheered and applauded wildly.

Balto sat down and watched for a long time. He watched the puppies running down the street yipping and barking at the attention they got like crazed maniacs. Some of the pups didn't know what to do or where to go and ran around, frightened of the overwhelming attention until they ran off into the crowds, lost. Then the event moved on to the large dogs. Slowly men grabbed two teams at a time - they had a man to every single dog on a team – and led them to the start banner. When they had the two teams lined up the man in the top hat on the podium fired his gun in the air and dogs ran off with a rush of cheers and applause. The band then started a tune and finished as the team disappeared down the far end of the street. They did this again and again, always leaving when the gun had been fired, – which made Balto cringe again and again and again behind his rooftop hideaway.

It happened while Balto watched the start to this endurance race that he noticed her. He noticed her rust and cream colored fur, luminous in the blinding sunlight. _Who is she? _Balto thought, peeking over the rooftop at her walking down the opposite side of the street. She appeared to be about Balto's age with her teenage body beginning to blossom out into the beautiful adult she would become. Next to her she had two friends: a tall brown dog with long hanging ear, and another shorter white dog with tiny legs and a thick bushy tail to match. The tiny dog didn't seem to even pause for a breath as she kept talking. Even from the roof, over the sound of the crowd, across the street, Balto could hear her yapping on and on. "I'm telling you Jenna, I can tell a thing or two about guys, and I'm sure about this guy. I just know I am, I'm telling…" _Jenna_, Balto thought, _that was her name_. Balto noticed Jenna rolling her eyes and looking to her friend with the long ears; she obviously was tired of the little dogs yapping to.

Balto watched Jenna and her two friends walking down the street, passing through the crowd and out of Balto's sight at times. Balto followed her, sneaking along from roof to roof down the street, all the while keeping his gaze on her.

Then Jenna and her two friends stopped abruptly and looked across the street. Balto ducked down. The girls whispered into each others ear and peered at something out of Balto's sight on his side of the street. Balto crept closer to the edge of the roof so he could see what they were looking at. Down below him Balto could see three male dogs standing and looking at the racers taking off. They stood with their back to an alley blocked off with wooden crates. There was a fat dark brown dog, and a lighter colored, much taller, brown dog. And in between these two dog dogs stood someone Balto had already met, had already been cursed by, had already fought, and already had an extreme dislike for. _Steel. _Balto grumbled.

Steel stood looking at the racers leaving, his attention being pulled to the start line whenever the gun went off and the people shouted in earnest. After the racers had moved out of sight he turned to one of his two companions and said something. From where Balto sat he couldn't see their faces or hear what Steel said. But from Balto's previous encounters with Steel he knew they weren't nice remarks.

Balto watched with fear in his eyes as Jenna and her two friends crossed the street towards Steel and his two friends. _Oh no, _Balto thought seeing them come. He closed his eyes; he didn't want to watch this.

But something made Balto want to watch and listen. It must have Been Jenna; he wanted to hear her speak, to see her up close and almost in person. Or maybe he wanted to somehow protect Jenna from Steel and his conniving ways. So Balto quickly moved around back of the house and found a shed roof to jump down onto. He then jumped to the ground and moved down the alley to the crates behind Steel and his two friends, peering through a space between the crates at Jenna's soft and beautiful face.

"Jenna," The little female dog chimed out of Balto's sight. "I would like to introduce you to Steel. Steel, this is Jenna, and she has a thing for you."

Jenna looked at the little dog with a flash of shy resentment.

"Jenna," Steel started with a musical ring in his voice. Jenna's name flew off his tongue like a spotless flower growing out of a cesspool. Balto had to admit Steel sounded suave as he continued. "It's a pleasure to meet a girl of your, particular beauty. You are like a light in a sea of darkness."

_Don't fall for it Jenna. It's all lies and fancy words, _Balto pleaded through the crates.

Jenna grinned openly. "It's nice to meet you as well Steel. My friend Dixie had nothing but nice things to say about you."

Balto felt his feet tingle. Her voice sounded like a gentle wind through the grass on a mountaintop. Balto felt his head get light. _Speak again, _Balto beseeched through the crates. _Let me hear you speak again._

Steel laughed. "Oh please Dixie, tell me you didn't." He laughed more. "You've probably made me up to be something far better than I am. I'm just a dog who wants to one day run in the Nome five hundred, to help anyone I can in town, and to one day be a good father to my children."

Jenna looked to her long eared friend with a timid flush; her eyes appeared to be searching for reassurance.

"But don't think I want children today Jenna." Steel said reassuringly. "And don't think I want you in any physical way, because you may not be the right kind of girl for me and my nature. But I would gladly love to meet you better, to speak to you about yourself, and myself, in a more one on one environment?"

_Say no Jenna. He's nothing but a sham!_ Balto thought looking through the crate at her debating face. _Say no, say no, say no! Please say no. _

"I guess one date wouldn't hurt." Jenna smiled. Her short friend squealed.

_NO! _Balto's heart sunk to his empty belly and twisted his gut into a retched mess. He looked away; unless his stomach decided to empty what little he had in it on the ground. Balto looked back, he had to hear more.

"How about the night after tomorrow? We'll meet at the boiler room?" Steel offered.

"That sounds nice. It's a date." Jenna turned abruptly with her friends and they moved off out of sight.

Balto waited behind the crates. He wanted to hear what Steel actually thought, and Balto knew it would come out in a few seconds when Jenna stepped out of hearing range.

"Ahh," Steel started, probably watching Jenna's hips as she swaggered off. "She's charming and shy…. Six bones say's I'm getting on top of her in three dates. She'll be powerless against my animalistic charm." Steel laughed derisively.

"You're on." The dog next to him called back.

Balto turned and trotted back towards the shed seething at Steel's remark. He didn't want to hear any more; he didn't want to hear how Steel would ravage the beautiful flower named Jenna into a powerless tool for his pleasure. Balto felt a sudden irate urge to protect Jenna from Steel as he leapt back onto the shed roof and up onto the house roof. _I will protect her, _Balto vowed to himself. _I will._

But first Balto wanted to see her again, and maybe to hear her speak. Balto leapt from building to building, looking down at the street with the crowds and the racers. Where was she? Balto moved on to the next building and looked down. _There,_ Balto thought, spotting the short-legged friend and the taller long-eared friend across the street. But Jenna wasn't with them any more. _Where'd she go? _Balto questioned as he crossed over the ridge of the house.

But then it happened as he stepped on the other side of the ridge. Some ice caught Balto's foot; he fell on his stomach and started to slide towards the edge. Balto pushed his feet under him and tried to leap for the next house. His feet slipped under him again. He scrambled to stop his slide and maybe yelped out in fear. The edge loomed before his eyes and he was helpless to stop it. Balto slid over the edge. The wooden crate below rushed up to meet him. Darkness consumed Balto as he hit down with a crunch.

Time passed in an instant. Balto opened his eyes and found himself staring straight up at the roof he had just fallen from; his eye's blurry and the defined edges of the building appeared fuzzy. Balto's back hurt and he could feel what would be a bruise all down his left side, with a sharper pain running the entire length of his rib cage. His breath wasn't quite right either, each breath he took came labored and erratic - Balto had the wind knocked out of him. He concentrated on restoring his breathing. At least nothing, besides the smashed crate he laid in, felt broken.

"Are you all right?" A voice called from nearby. It sounded familiar.

Balto raised his head up and saw her, Jenna. She stood next to the smashed crate, very near to him, with her brown eye's boring worry into his yellow ones. Another small male dog with grey stripes stood on the other side of Balto. "That was quiet a fall." The little dog chimed, twisting his head to look up at the roof.

"Yeah … I'm f… fine." Balto said through labored breathes, his voice raspy and old. He tried to pull himself up to a sitting position, but instantly found Jenna's left paw on his chest pushing him back down.

"You just stay there for a minute." She commanded with tenderness. "I don't want you getting up just yet."

"No … I'm al…alright…really." Balto said trying to push himself up again, but her paw didn't relent an inch. Balto didn't fight her.

Jenna looked at the small dog. "Star, go get some help." Star nodded excitedly and bolted towards the main street with the people and out of Balto's sight. Jenna turned her attention to Balto. "So what's your name?" Jenna asked removing her paw from his chest. "I know I've seen you around town before, but not with anybody ever."

"Balto."

"Balto?" Jenna asked cocking her head. Then her eye's lit up with recognition "Oh! So you must be the wolfdog everybody's been talking about." She smiled as she looked him in the eyes. "My names Jenna."

He twisted his body and a little spasm of pain shot in his ribs. Balto moaned as his breath caught audibly in his throat; he wasn't having as difficult a time breathing now, but it still wasn't normal. "It's nice to talk to you. … How did you know … that I fell?"

She smiled. "I was standing right there on the street talking with Star when I heard you yell out. I turned around just in time to see you crunch into this crate." She smiled again, wider, beaming. "I came over just as you woke up."

"Thanks for helping … me." Balto said with his raspy voice. He suddenly felt very embarrassed and fearful. He sat up before Jenna could tell him otherwise. "I should … get going."

"Wait, no, lay down. Where is there to go?"

"I can't stay." Balto said pulling himself to his feet. An awful stinging covered the entire left side of his body and around to his back. Balto moaned as he stood defiant against his pain. "I'm sorry I have to go…" Balto began to walk down the alley. _Oh the pain! _Balto cried in his mind. It just didn't seem to stop or let up; he stumbled towards the wall and leaned heavily into it.

"Please Balto, just sit for a minute." Jenna said, suddenly pleading by Balto's side. "Star went to get some help and he'll be right back."

"That's why I can't stay. …Whoever he brings back … is going to see me and panic. …" Balto pushed away from the wall. "Nobody helps a half breed." Balto said this almost as a threat as he stood defiant against his hurting and once again started forwards. He made it halfway down the alley this time and leaned against the wall with a heavy grunt. No way could he get away quickly if he had to.

"Please Balto." Jenna pleaded by Balto's side again. "I'll help you. You're hurt. Just sit down and I'll tell them to go away. Don't be a fool"

Balto pushed himself away from the wall again and began to walk, one foot in front of the other in front of the other. He had to get away from here before the other dog, Star, brought somebody back who would find great joy in ripping him apart. All the wolf senses and days of lonely wandering reeled in Balto's mind and screamed at him. _Go, go, go_. Balto pushed on, the pain still terrible and all consuming, but he felt he could manage it now as he pushed his way around the corner of the alley and down the street. As Balto made it to the next alley, limping along with the pain, he threw a glance over his shoulder. Jenna stood at the corner watching him go, her brown eyes filled with sorrow and wonder. Balto suddenly felt stupid and irrational for what he did, but he kept walking and managed to get away without anybody coming after him.

Balto knew, as he walked on, the injuries he received from the fall off the roof would heal almost fully in a few days. But the udder embarrassment and shame from his fall, and his subsequent fleeing from Jenna and her kindness, would not easily be licked away.

* * *

Balto licked his chops with a loud smacking and chomping noise as he sat in the dark on the roof of the butchers shop. There hadn't been much in the cans, a few fatty steak trimmings, hardly enough to be considered a meal. But Balto ate them with relish and jumped to his rooftop perch to clean his muzzle and enjoy the aftertaste of his meal in relative safety.

_Where are you Jenna,_ Balto thought looking out across the town as he finished cleaning himself. The only noise out in the darkness came from the bar, still pumping music and laughter into the night. Since their brief meeting Balto had seen Jenna from afar a few times. He even followed her and Steel as they went on a date one night. They cruised around town gabbing and laughing like old friends; Steel told jokes and acted like a perfect gentleman - except towards the end of the date when Steel forced Jenna to nuzzle him. It made Balto want to pound Steel's pretty little head into a snow bank, especially when Balto thought about what Steel wanted to do to Jenna. Balto wanted to just sit down with Jenna for a few minutes and explain to her how Steel was nothing but a two faced liar after only one thing. But would Jenna believe him, a half-breed feral wolf dog who lived in the shadows scraping meals from any dark hole he could get?

A wild-haired dog appeared below Balto out of the darkness, sniffing around the garbage cans like a rat searching for a cracker. The dog pulled himself up to the can and sniffed. Balto knew he would find nothing in it. The dog turned and trotted off, his tail hung low and his eyes bitter. "There's never anything in there for me?" He pouted aloud. Balto felt a little guilty.

As soon as the dog went out of sight Balto stood and began to move about again, his stomach a little heavier for the journey. Now he would try and find Jenna and, if courage would be with him, he would try and tell her all about Steel. He looked hopefully at the stars above.

Off Balto ran, flying across the roofs as if he had wings and with a single bound could just fly across the town. He ran on, his nose attuned to the breeze, searching for Jenna's delicate scent. It didn't take long before his nose caught it and brought him to a halt. Balto turned into the wind, which came from the ocean, and bounded over roof and alley towards her.

* * *

Near the ocean Balto slowed as her scent got stronger and a pair of voices began to catch his ears. One of the voices sounded to be Jenna's, the other – Balto cringed – was Steels. _They must be on a date_, Balto thought miserably as he neared the edge of the roof and looked down on the two of them walking along.

Steel walked on Jenna's right side, his body right next to hers and his tail curled over occasionally rubbing against her hip and butt. Jenna appeared to notice Steel's tail pressing against her side and, whenever it touched her, she shied away with her entire body. Steel just countered her measure by moving with her. It didn't appear Jenna had much more room to shy away since she practically walked with her shoulder against the side of the buildings already.

Balto followed along as they walked, being sure not to make a sound or fall stupidly and noisily if his foot caught some ice again. Steel's words began to reach a crescendo in the story he told Jenna. Balto listened.

"So my friends just run out on me, leaving me trapped their under the tree with this polar bear sniffing around my head. And I think to myself, '_Steel, this is it, you are going to die.' _ I didn't have anything I could do. You know what I'm saying Jenna." Steel's tail touched Jenna's hip.

"Yeah Steel, it sounds like you had nothing you could do." Jenna said in an uninterested tone as she stepped a little further to the side, but to no avail since Steel just moved up against her once more.

"So then I get this idea, and it comes from nowhere. I mean I can't really take credit for it…. Well I guess I can since it came from my head, and I was the one who did what I thought of. So I guess it is all my idea. You know?" Steel's tail once again rubbed Jenna's hip and butt, lingering for far longer than an accident.

"Steel." Jenna stopped, turning full on to face Steel with resentment coursing through her facial expressions. "Would you stop touching me? I don't like it."

"What?" Steel pulled his shoulders up as if he didn't know what he had been doing wrong. "It's our third date Jenna. I'm just showing some affection."

Jenna scowled at Steel, knitting her eyebrows together unfriendly. "Affection is not touching my butt. Give me some space. You're smothering me."

"Jenna come on. It's our third date. Most girls are ready for a little action from me by the second date." Steel replied, still feigning innocence. Suddenly Steel stepped forwards with a cocksure attitude, his voice smooth and comforting like the day at the race. "I know a little place near here with a mattress and a deck over the ocean. Let's say you and I go over there and, we'll talk this out?"

Jenna stepped forwards into Steel's face, indignant. "We'll I'm not like most girls and the idea that I'd sleep with you on a third date, it's just… just, ridiculous." She spat the words out and turned back the way they had been walking from. "This dates over."

Balto watched helplessly from his rooftop perch as Steel's face changed from calm and smooth-talking, to enraged and irrational _Oh no,_ Balto thought as Steel lowered his head with hateful red eyes. Balto moved quickly across the roof to find a way down.

Steel bolted forwards like a panther with a quick jump action, smacking the top of his head into Jenna's soft side. The impact sent Jenna sprawling sideways into the building and the snow "_Ahhh_!" Jenna yelped out at the shock of the impact. She rolled onto her side as Steel stepped menacingly over her.

"Nobody turns Steel down, especially some whelping bitch who thinks she's in some way better than me! I should take from you what I want and leave you lying here." Even Steel's breath echoed between the buildings. "And don't even bother to tell your father about this. You know he's always on my side. All I have to do is make up some excuse about you falling and getting all the bruises I'm going to give to you, and he'll believe me, not you." Steel raised his right paw up and brought it down with his full body weight on Jenna's exposed ribcage again and again. Jenna barked out a breath of pain from each hit and laid her head back, almost unconscious from the punches.

Steel finally stopped and looked down on Jenna like he had found something slimy on his paw. Guilt crept into his face as he backed away from what he had already done. "Let this be a warning to you Jenna. Next time I won't be so nice." Steel turned and walked quickly down the street and around the corner, not even bothering to look back.

Balto realized he hadn't been fast enough as he walked onto the scene from across the alley. Jenna's barks of pain had sent Balto into a panic as he raced off the roof and towards her, but now everything was quiet, the storm had passed. Jenna lay on her side in the snow gasping for breath. Steel had committed the crime, and then vanished. Balto had come too late and the guilt of it made him want to hide away in a hole; he had failed to protect her.

Jenna stirred and Balto moved, instinctively, close to the shadow of a back porch so she wouldn't see him. Jenna rolled onto her stomach and brought herself up into a sitting position. _She's so strong, _Balto thought in admiration. But then Balto noticed the tears, silver in the low light, streaking her cheeks like shooting stars. The gentle sobs and whispered cries Jenna released made Balto want to cry with her. He just couldn't understand why he felt so strongly for her. It was like they were the sun and the moon: him, the outcast one steeped in shadows except when came around; and her, the bright ray of sun to light everything up. Always the moon chases the sun.

Balto had to speak to her. He had to comfort Jenna in this time of pain. Balto stepped forwards, but a millions years of wolf caution stopped him. He was different than her, from a completely different world. He was the moon, and she the sun. But he still felt compassion for this beautiful creature in this moment of utter despair. Uncertainty tore Balto in half and short-circuited everything. It seemed as thought Balto would pass out from this confusion when… "Are you alright?" Balto whispered, surprised he had spoke.

Jenna turned, startled, maybe slightly terrified Steel had returned to do more damage. Her eye's searched the darkness. "Who's there?" She called.

Balto stepped forwards out of the shadow with his head hung low in his defeated attempt to save Jenna. "It's …uh me, Balto."

"Oh, hi Balto." Jenna said sniffling and wiping the free tears from her cheeks with the backs of her paws. "How long have you been there?" She asked, although her tone sounded as if she already knew the answer.

"Long enough." Balto replied stepping closer. He looked either way down the street to see if anybody might be coming, and then he stepped closer yet. "I know what happened. I tried to get here to stop him, but by the time I got here he was gone."

"It's okay. I'm fine; my prides hurt more than I am." Jenna said forcing a smile to Balto. The tears still welled up in her eyes and made them incandescent in the darkness. "I knew you were nearby."

"How?"

"I smelled you. I remembered your smell from when you fell off the roof at the race. I knew you were around, or at least had been around here recently. I've also seen you following me from time to time." Jenna raised her paws one by one and wiped her cheeks again. "I didn't know if you were following me tonight though."

"I…yes. I have been following you." Balto had thought about challenging the idea of him following her, but he couldn't lie. He looked at Jenna with a tinge of guilt on his face. "I wanted to warn you about what kind of guy Steel was. But I … I was afraid."

Jenna smiled, this time a real one. "Afraid? Afraid Of what?"

Balto wanted to say something – anything – other than what came to his mind. "You."

Jenna giggled.

"What's so funny?" Balto said in good humor.

"Nothing." She smiled. "I just thought it was funny that you're afraid of me." Jenna's face twisted up in befuddlement. "Why are you afraid of me? I'm the one who should be afraid of you, and I'm not. I don't think you want to hurt me like my father said you do."

Balto shrugged his shoulders guiltily. "I was afraid you might think less of me, or that I was bad because of my being a…"

"Wolf?" Jenna cut in.

"Part wolf." Balto corrected.

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I look more like of a wolf than I actually am." Balto shuffled his large paw uneasily on the snow. "But the real question is are you alright?"

Jenna smiled "Yes. I'm fine…. I knew Steel was a jerk, but I didn't think he was this big a jerk." Her smile vanished as her eyes sunk back to memory. "He's sweet in public, but he's just a slime-ball in private."

"I'm sorry." Balto apologized, lowering his head.

"It's not your fault Balto…. At least somebody was around if things got to out of hand." She smiled again. The only marks left from her tears were the drying rivulets on her cheeks.

Balto loved to see her smile. It filled him with joy and he felt a similar smile spread over his face. The moment felt strange, their eye's locked, neither talking, just listening and waiting for the other to speak, contented with each others mere presence. Balto broke his eyes away first and looked uncomfortably away. "I guess if you're alright I'll leave you alone then."

"No!" Jenna barked, brining Balto's attention straight back to her. "I mean…. Could you maybe, walk me home?" Jenna's eyes pleaded.

Balto didn't like the idea and his face showed it. It wasn't the idea of him walking Jenna home – which actually seemed like a dream come true – it was because if anybody else saw him there would be an alarm, a chase, and maybe a few gunshots.

Jenna seemed to sense Balto's unease at the prospect. She had forgotten he couldn't just go walk around willy-nilly like she did. But maybe they could go another way. "I know a different way. It will take us around town. We just go down to the beach and walk until we reach the edge of town, then we just keep going around the town until we get to my house. My master lives on the edge of town so it should be safe."

"I think I can handle that. There shouldn't be anybody down near the ice, especially at night." Balto said stepping closer. "Do you need any help getting up?"

Jenna pulled herself to her feet and stood for a moment. "No. I think I'm alright."

Together the two of them moved side by side down towards the beach and the frozen ocean which blazed under pinhole stars and the occasional flash of the northern lights. Balto, whose first instinct told him to go from shadow to shadow like a ghost, felt queer just walking along like a common dog, and next to one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. Questions began to run through his head on what sort of behavior he should be practicing in the company of such a fine lady. _She's so pretty. Why is she looking at my hips? Do I have something nasty in my fur? Oh no! She caught me staring at her. Look away…. Yeah, try and act cool. Uh-oh, should I offer to lie in that puddle so she can walk on me? Or should I tell her about it? I don't want her feet to get dirty. Oh well, she already walked through it. Her feet are all dirty now. She doesn't look happy. OH-NO! What if she has to go? Do I just turn around and pretend to be looking at something? What if I have to go? And then what happens when I get her home? Is it just goodbye, farewell? Hmmm, she's so beautiful. Her face is so soft and wonderful. Those eyes, they almost seem to be staring right through me. Oh no! She is staring through me. She caught me staring at her again. Just look away, don't think, its better that way. Just keep looking away. _

Jenna on the other paw had a few questions of her own going on in her head. _Balto sure is strange. Why does he keep looking towards the shadows like he wants to hide? He doesn't walk quiet right. There must be something wrong with his shoulders or his hip. Maybe it's from the fall he took. He sure has cute hips though, and a strong butt. Oh, he caught me looking at his butt, look away Jenna…. Is he looking? No, he's back to looking at the shadows. I wonder what his story is. Why is he here in Nome all by himself? Maybe he's not by himself. Oh! I didn't notice that puddle, now my feet are wet and muddy. Why didn't he notice it for me? I guess I should have been looking out for it instead of looking at him. He is cute thought. He has a boyish charm with that tuft of tangled hair on his head. He also has the most beautiful, piercing, yellow eyes I believe I've ever seen. Oh no! He's staring at me. He caught me staring at him. Just look away Jenna, Don't think about anything. _

They walked onin an awkward way, each looking off and on at the other and thinking about the other, but utterly terrified of the other and what they might be thinking about them. Puppy love, it seemed rich in the air and as thick as oil.

They strolled down onto the beach and turned towards Balto's boat. Above them the sky looked brilliant, lit with a million stars; the milky way like an avenue for them to follow from here to forever. They both sighed at the same time, then, noticing the others sigh, smiled.

"It's just so beautiful." Jenna offered, looking away from the sky to Balto's face with a sidelong glance. "When you're in town you don't see the stars this well."

"I should show you the stars out where I live." Balto grinned, doing the same head motion. "They're really spectacular out there." Balto mentally kicked himself for the remark. _Don't invite her to your home you dolt. She won't be impressed; you live in a garbage heap. Besides, you don't invite a girl like this to your garbage heap home, especially when you save her from a date, and don't you even think walking her home is counted as a date. _"I- I …I mean – um"

"What?" Jenna giggled. _He's so funny sometimes. I don't get it. _She looked at Balto who seemed distracted as he looked off at some group of stars over the frozen ocean. Jenna decided to keep talking. "So where do you live?"

Balto's eyes darted back and forth in his head. Should he tell her? "Um … I live out … there." Balto pointed with a flick of his nose towards the old fishing trawler leaning heavily on it's side. "It's … you know…"

"Quaint," Jenna finished for him. "I like it. I bet its quiet out there and nobody ever bothers you."

"To quiet at times." Balto said it without really thinking about it, his head dropped glumly, but picked up as he continued. "Except for my friends."

"You have friends?" Jenna winced at her words. They sounded so cold hearted coming from her lips. _Of course he has friends Jenna. He's not some freak. Is he? _ "I mean, who are your friends?"

"You wouldn't know them. They're sort of outcasts and misfits like me." Balto looked at the boat. He wondered if Boris stood out there on the rail, just out of sight, watching him.

"What are their names?" Jenna asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Well… there's Boris, he's a snow goose from Russia. Then there are the two polar bear cubs, Muk and Luk. They're sort of abandoned like me. And those are … all my friends." Balto finished, lowering his head, depressed again.

The answer had been a little more than Jenna was expecting. _Polar bears?_ "Oh…. Aren't you afraid?"

Balto looked cross at Jenna. "Of what?"

"Muk and Luk? I've always heard polar bears aren't meant to be messed with."

"Afraid of Muk and Luk?" Balto chuckled at the notion of him being afraid of Muk and Luk, or ever feeling he had to be. Muk and Luk were so harmless they couldn't hurt themselves. "No. They're not anything to fear. They're just kids."

Jenna seemed visibly comforted at the news of friendly polar bear. "We'll at least you're not totally alone." She paused,_ Oh go on Jenna, just offer it to him._ "And I hope that I could be on that small list of 'friends.'"

Balto looked at Jenna, a little taken aback. _She wants to be my friend_? The news twisted Balto's heart and head until he thought he would to pass out. "Yeah. I guess I can count you as my friend." _Come on Balto, a little more enthusiasm. _"In fact I would love to call you my friend."

Jenna smiled. Balto smiled. They carried on to the edge of town and turned to leave the beach and go to Jenna's house. Around the fringe of town they strolled, looking at the stars and pointing things out to one another, just happy to be alive and with someone. Both their hearts filled with an only slightly conditioned joy: Jenna from a guy who didn't want her for her body; and Balto for a new friend who didn't look at his fur and his body build and throw him out the door of any thought or reason.

"So are you going to tell your father about what happened?" Balto asked quietly.

Jenna looked sheepishly at Balto, then lowered her head and turned away so he couldn't see the look of pain on her face. "No. He wouldn't believe me if I told him."

"Why? I mean you have the bruises to prove he hit you." Balto replied quickly.

Jenna looked back at Balto, the look of pain clearly evident on her face. "My father wouldn't believe me if I came back missing a leg. Steel is pretty much my father's best friend. Steel can lie straight to my fathers face and he'll believe him every time. And these bruises, Steel would just say I fell down some stairs and I got angry and tried to blame him for it." Jenna seemed on the point of tears again. "I'm never right in my fathers view."

Balto felt a ting of guilt for brining tears to Jenna's eyes again. "I'm sorry."

Jenna smirked. "For what? You don't need to be sorry for what goes on in my life."

Balto looked sidelong at Jenna, his eyes sheepish. "I'm sorry for brining up bad memories and making you cry again."

"Oh Balto." She smiled wide. "Thank you for being so considerate."

"No problem."

Soon, too soon for either of them, they arrived at Jenna's house. The upstairs lights in the little yellow house shined still on, "Don't worry." Jenna said with a smile. "I don't live in the house." She instead moved around the back and showed Balto the little shed next to the wood pile where she slept.

"So…" Jenna said turning to Balto after showing him the outside of the shed. She seemed flustered and unsure. "I really want to thank you for what you did tonight." Jenna sounded flustered. "I hope you know I really appreciate you for following me, even though to some it might be considered… rude."

Balto also felt flustered and on the verge of some explosion if release didn't happen. "And I'm sorry for not getting to you sooner. If I had I would have given Steel something he wouldn't forget."

Jenna scowled at Balto "It's probably better if you don't fight Steel. Because after you beat him, he'd have you run out of town by a bunch of his friends."

Balto saw the wisdom in what she said. Steel would probably sink low enough to chase Balto out of town and into the hills if he lost a fight. Balto brought his attention back to Jenna. "So I guess this is goodnight and sleep tight?" Balto stepped back a few paces, feeling on the cusp of discharging all his pent up flustering into a high-speed sprint. "I'll see you around some time, friend?"

"Balto." Jenna called sweetly. She stepped forwards swiftly and before Balto realized what had happened she touched her nose to his – the canine equivalent to a kiss on the cheek. "Don't tell your other friends." Jenna winked as she turned to the shed.

Balto watched her go, stammering inwardly to bring words or even syllables to his mouth. His tongue lay against his teeth, inert to any sort of stimuli from the brain. His eye's felt fuzzy and the whole event in front of him became indistinct and far away, as if he were looking at everything down a long tunnel. For a moment his brain may have gone blank, or may have shut right off; like someone flipping a light switch on and off quickly. What was he even thinking about? Was he thinking? Could he do anything other than stare at Jenna with his slack jaw and short circuited brain? No, Balto finally admitted. Balto could only watch her retreat into the shed with a little smile on her face. She was probably smiling at his ridiculous mug.

As Balto's brain began to reactivate and he realized what had happened, he turned and began to run towards his boat. He felt as light as a feather and in love. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 **

For two days Balto felt on the verge of floating off the earth and into the sky like some majestic bird or billowing cloud. He felt as if he would rise out of his skin to Valhalla, Heaven, and places beyond where love rained freely from the sky and Jenna would always be by his side. Every part of his body, from his feet to his head and all the way back to the tip of his tail, felt light and airy, empty and yet full of a new all-encompassing sensation. With one touch to Balto's nose the world unexpectedly became soft and palatable to his senses, as if a fuzzy blanket had been laid over everything. And with one touch, every single one of Balto's past troubles twisted away and around, tenderly stretching out and unlinking- like a rope being untangled – until Balto couldn't remember there had ever been a single problem in his entire life, only this one feeling of bliss.

All the nerves in Balto's body seemed to pulsate with this new energy stemming from his heart, to the town of Nome, and to a rust and crème colored husky named Jenna. _Jenna,_ Balto thought, _Jenna, Jenna, Jenna, Jenna. _ His mind repeated her name like a beacon pulsating in the darkest night. Her soft and beautiful image became a vital portrait in Balto's mind. He saw her there when he closed his eyes and slept, when he looked to the town, and when he looked to the sky or the frozen sea. Balto loved Jenna. He wanted to be with her all the time, day or night.

But Balto also felt the bitter harshness of reality stirring in his mind. She was the sun, and he the moon. She came from a place of dogs and men; subject to rules of the way she should conduct herself in the eye of the 'public.' And he came from a wild place of wolves and bears; subject to the rules of eat or be eaten, fight or die, breed or be alone…. Balto could never be accepted as a regular 'town,' dog. He could also never ask Jenna to leave her friends and family to be with him. How could their worlds ever hope to cross this vast expanse between?

Yet Balto didn't let this reality of different worlds keep him from dreaming about the minuscule possibilities of something actually happening. For hours Balto went on walks by himself up into the mountains around Nome; all the while having fanciful conversation with his love, Jenna. He told her about his past: how he had been abandoned by a river in the spring, how Boris had saved him and nursed him and took care of him. Balto told how the polar bear cubs Muk and Luk appeared at the boat one night crying because they had lost their mother in a blizzard and couldn't find her anywhere. He told her how Boris, with a little coaxing from Balto, had eventually taken the cubs in. Balto told Jenna all his thoughts, misgivings, fears, hopes, desires, and ambitions; speaking on and on until Balto felt he had vomited out his entire life in words and found himself going on, searching blankly for something more to say to her.

But all these conversations were lonely and terribly one sided. Balto couldn't have counted how many times he turned to his right and asked with a casual smile, "So what about you Jenna?" only to discover he had been talking to himself like a mental patient. Balto wanted to hear her story, her fears, desires, ambitions, and every word she might articulate to him. Even a course thrashing from her tongue would have been a joyful event.

It was in these moments Balto would turn and look at Nome with a deep longing and a bitter resentment in his eyes. _Why don't you just go down there and talk to her?_ Balto's quirky mind pressed. _Because they hate me down there._ Balto's resentful and sane mind interjected. _If they saw me down there they'd…_" Balto didn't want to continue into the image of him being beaten up and chased out of town with Jenna standing by watching, a horrified look plastered on her face. The image brought unbearable pain when Balto imagined her face with so much pain.

For two days Balto didn't have the slightest notion of actually going into town – although he dreamt about it a lot. He didn't even go to town to see if the garbage might compromise of something tastier than the occasional bony rabbit he found in the hills. Balto didn't go to town because he knew he would try and talk to her, and if somebody saw him talking to her it might create problems for Jenna, which Balto hadn't the slightest inkling to do. That, and there was the unthinkable possibility Jenna didn't have these same feeling for Balto, even though she did touch her nose to his. Perhaps her affection may have only been her thanks for his failed rescue attempt.

So Balto tried to content himself by staring from the deck of the boat with a soft haze over his eyes towards Nome; as if the act alone would bring these two worlds together in a beautiful union. Although in his heart he knew this would never be so.

Balto began to sob as he looked at the town. "Oh Jenna… Jenna, I love you…Jenna."

* * *

Boris didn't lack in his inquiry about Balto's newfound behaviors. For two days – since the night Boris saw two unidentifiable dogs walking on the snowy beach – the boychik hadn't been quiet right in the head. He seemed aloof and unaware of things, always with a strange shimmering glaze over his eyes.

From time to time Boris found himself asking Balto simple questions two or three times; simply because the boy couldn't keep his concentration for more than two seconds. "What wrong with you, you get hit on the head or something?" Boris asked one day when Balto wandered straight into an easily avoidable puddle of slush near the boat. Balto shrugged the question off saying something about not seeing the puddle because he had yawned and been trying to blink something in his eye as well. Still, Boris wondered what could be going on in the boys head when he went on those long walks by himself. He wondered what Balto thought about when he looked towards town with a shine over his eyes – which Balto did as repeatedly as a duck taking to water.

For a long time Boris mulled over what the boychik's problem could be. Maybe he was sick? No, Boris had never seen or heard of a sickness that made you stare at a certain spot on the horizon, that was called migration. Maybe there was food he had been trying to steal from town? But if that happened to be the case he would have been going to town instead of out in the hills. Balto also wouldn't take this long on a decision to steal food. Maybe he had been beaten up and thought about nothing other than revenge? No, Balto didn't have a single scratch on him, and his face didn't hold any real anger in it when he looked towards Nome. Besides, the boy wasn't someone who held a grudge, even when something had been wrongly done to him. Maybe he was in love? No, no, no, it couldn't be that … could it?

But then – just as Boris felt he would rip his feather out from thinking – the answer came to him. Night had settled and Boris slept in the helm of the boat with Balto and the two bothersome polar bears. In the darkness Balto awoke with a mutter and a teary sobbing. He quietly slipped out the door towards the front of the boat where he often looked towards Nome. Boris, who had woken but didn't move, roused himself a moment later to see if he could figure out what Balto's problem might be. Boris moved quietly to the door of the helm and peered around the corner at Balto.

Balto stood with his front feet up on the railing gazing towards the distant light of Nome like a heartbroken phantom. Boris could just make out the words coming from the boy in low heaves of anguish; slow and erratic like the first snowflakes of a winter storm. "Oh Jenna…Jenna, I love you...Jenna."

_ It's love the boychick is in_, Boris thought, _and from the sound of it he's over his head and full of doubt_. Boris quietly went back to sleep near Muk, pleased he had discovered the problem to be nothing more than love. Boris decided with a yawn he would confront Balto about 'Jenna,' tomorrow, and maybe give him a lesson or two in love.

* * *

Dawn came leisurely to Nome, guised in a bluish grey veil gradually stretching from the southeast to the northwest in an unhurried way. The skulking cold from the inky night fell to an exile in the shadows, hiding where the sun would be late to show it's face. Behind the disappearing cold came the first fuzzy bits of light forming from the darkness, like a blue cover set before the breakfast table of the world. The sun began to rise.

Balto's eyes flickered under their lids; defiant to open from the beautiful dream he had been having of Jenna to the dank helm of the dilapidated fishing trawler. But soon his eyes opened and Balto found his head on his paws and his side pressed up against Luk for warmth. Even though his friends surrounded him with warmth and love, he felt terribly cold and forlorn. He wanted to be with Jenna's warmth and love. Balto tried to close his eyes and drift back into the dream of the waterfall with Jenna bathed in a soft blue mist, her slender body immersed in skin-tight wet fur dripping on the rock she stood over. But the dream remained elusive, and Balto found he had to wake and face the day without her again.

Balto lay for a while with his eyes open thinking of what he should do. After a time he thought of going for a long walk to get his blood flowing in his legs; and to have one of his conversations with Jenna. It seemed an excellent idea to fill in a good portion of this lonely day. Balto knew he would feel better after walking and expressing himself to his imagined Jenna. Perhaps he might even find something to eat out in the mountains. The idea fit the day perfectly; it wasn't like he had anything else to do.

Balto raised himself little by little, careful not to disturb Luk from his slumber - or anybody else for that matter. Balto didn't want any of his friends to be troubled by his leaving or his torn heart which ached, at times, like an open sore. It had been risky enough getting up in the night to cry and moan about Jenna and the fact they would never be together because of their separate worlds. What if Muk, Luk, or Boris had heard him crying? What would they say? Balto didn't feel much like finding out as he stepped forwards, his feet padding just audibly on the floor, the delicate scratch of his nails as he lifted his feet forwards with each step, the insubstantial rasp of Balto's breath moving in and out. Balto turned in the door and took a last look at his friends, making sure they still slept soundly. But to Balto's surprise Boris wasn't with the two polar bears. _Now where could –_

"Going for a walk?" Boris asked in a whisper, his Russian accent bizarre-sounding in the early morning. "Because if you are, I'd like to come with and have a little chat with you."

Balto turned, slightly shocked at Boris having so quietly snuck up on him. Balto started in a whisper, "Uh… no, I'm, just going…to… you know, see if I can…it's nothing you want to go see… I'm just going to … you know – go." Balto realized as he forced a grin his excuse had more holes in it than the boat they stood on did. "So I'll just be going then." Balto turned and set off towards the gangplank and sweet freedom from Boris's gaze and accent.

Boris waited patiently as Balto left; ready to strike when the boychick's front paws touched the wood at the top of the plank. Scheming goose eyes watching the wolf/dog's feet move hurriedly on. Boris took his sweet time to carefully pick through the words he would employ, his right wing held thoughtfully to his beak, almost in admiration of Balto's fearfulness. "Then before you go you think you might tell me about this Jenna you're so in loves with then."

Balto twisted back around to Boris in a quick whip-like action, his eyes held wide in disbelief. "But how… no…no, I' don't know what your talking about." Balto tried to turn away again. "I don't know any Jenna."

"Oh, is that so?" Boris smiled, remaining calm for the attack he had ready to fling upon Balto. "So then it isn't her you cry for?"

Balto stopped halfway down the gangplank, his ears curved back towards the big-mouthed bird. He felt the jaws of Boris's trap closing in on him and pulling him back up the plank to face his own problems.

"It isn't her you think about on your walks? It isn't her you think of when you look towards Nome? It isn't Jenna?" Boris knew from how still Balto held he had hit the nail on the head. "Then everything must be fine and I'm only a crazy goose. Go on then, have fun." Boris smiled as he turned away. But he kept one eye trained over his shoulder on Balto, still standing halfway down the gangplank as if frozen in a block of ice.

Balto sighed as he turned and climbed the gangplank; his head hung low in a defeated way. "Yes." He muttered quietly as his feet hit the deck and faced Boris. Balto kept his head hung low so Boris wouldn't see his teary eyes. "I…" But Balto didn't quiet know how to continue, or even where to start his story.

Boris stepped forwards. "Love her?" Boris picked Balto's head up in his wings and staried him in the eyes. "Do you love her?"

"Y_es_!" Balto moaned with a sob released so forcefully neither of them had expected it. His eyes began to tear up even more. "I do love her, I do."

Boris released Balto's chin and threw both his wings out in a celebratory way. "Then what's all the crying about? Why you moaning and kicking yourself? You should be dancing and singing like your feet on fire." Boris laughed and gave a quick circular jig to show Balto what he meant. Boris always had a way to try and make the most depressing moments light and funny, although it didn't always work. "You should be happy and wonderful, not down in the dumps like there nothing left but to die."

Balto opened his mouth to speak, but found the words less than forthcoming. "I…" He sighed. "It's hard to…"

"I know, but just take a moment and try to get the words." Boris said softly, setting his right wing on Balto's shoulder. "It may help to starts at the beginning."

So Balto sat and told Boris the whole story in a quiet monotone way. He told Boris about the day at the race and how he had fallen off the roof. He told Boris about how he followed Jenna and wanted to save her from Steel and his conniving ways. Balto told about the night Steel had beat Jenna up and he walked Jenna home. Balto told how at the very end she touched her nose to his. Balto then went and told how he felt light and airy, and how he had this feeling of wanting to be with Jenna all the time.

"So then what's the problem? Go and talk with her. Tell her about these feelings. Serenade her with your love. Take her in your paws and kiss her." Boris exclaimed, swinging a make-believe partner around, leaning her back down towards the deck and planting an imaginary kiss on her lips.

Balto grimaced and looked away dishearten. "It's because I don't know if she feels the same about me. What if I go and tell her I love her and she laughs at me? I mean it could just be me with these feelings. She's a town dog who wants a strong sled dog to be in her life. She couldn't possibly want mangy old me. Could she?" Balto looked hopefully at Boris for the answer.

Boris thought about it, his right wing held to his beak in his thinking posture again. "I doubt she's going to laugh, and I bet she would certainly take a second look at you. The way she's behaved so far says she's not against you in any way. She even touched her nose to yours, which sounds like a little more than just being a friend. But I could be wrong. I don't know how dogs do things." Boris leaned into Balto's ear and began in a quiet voice "But I'll tell you this much I do know, you love her, and that's half the battle won right there. Now it's just up to you to go and see what she says. And don't worry about this nonsense of you feeling as if you're not good enough for her because you're half wolf. Love has no borders."

Balto felt what should have been the energetic spark of hope returning to him, but it grew cold in his questioning mind. "But I don't know what I'd say. Do I just show up and smile and say, 'Hi Jenna, remember me, Balto? I love you. Do you love me?'"

At this Boris gave a slight honking laugh. He waved his wings at the idea. "No, no, no…. What you need to be is suave, daring, intelligent, mysterious, somewhat dangerous, and with a sense of style. You need to be in her face, but not in an annoying way. You need to have confidence. You need, you need…" Boris's mind turned gears and hammered the gas pedal to the floor, heading for an ultimate climax. "You need … hair."

Balto twisted his face up in confusion. "What?"

"Hair." Boris said as if he found a new and beautiful word altogether. "What you need to impress and swing this Jenna is hair. Not this scraggy bit you have here." Boris rubbed the spot between Balto's ears, messing up the already messy hair. "With a head of hair you can do anything. You can fight crime, rescue children… love women. " Boris swaggered his eyebrow and seemed to be dreaming back to a time when he might have had 'hair,' – no doubt some pompous Elvis-like troubadour which would have wooed the lady geese.

Confusion filled Balto's face. He didn't know exactly how 'hair,' might make him appealing to Jenna; or how it would make him be able to fight crime, be suave, have daring, and be intelligent. But 'hair' sounded like it might be worth a shot, especially if it gave him the confidence to go and 'woo' Jenna. "But where would I get hair?" He asked meekly

Boris came back from his daydream, his face obviously smashed at finding himself without his head of hair and surrounded by many beautiful geese girls. Boris thought it over with his wing to his chin again. Then he snapped two feathers together as an idea struck his eyes and lit them up like lanterns. "I know just the place where we can get you some hair. Wait here for just a moment." Boris turned and waddled in his fat goose-like way into the helm of the boat. For a moment Boris remained quiet as Balto wondered what the old goose could be up to.

"OW!! Boris, what are – OW! That smarts, stop it. OW!!" Muk began to shout and move about in a noisy fashion. Muk's yelps going on just out of Balto's sight. Soon Luk began to his muted speech and own yelps "mm,mmm,mmmmm,m, OW! mm…m mmm ,mm,mm. OW!!"

"You's two hold still! Stop squirming!" Boris yelled. The three of them began scrambling raucously around in the helm: smashing things, breaking things, slamming into things with all the racket of a bar-room brawl. Balto began to chuckle at the sounds and idea of two huge polar bears trying to escape the small goose attacking them.

A moment later, after several yelps and questions as to what Boris was doing, Boris returned from the helm of the boat with enough fur under one wing to stuff a fair sized pillow. He waddled confidently towards Balto. "Come on boychic, let's get to the river to get your hairdo together." Boris waddled on by Balto and down the gangplank. "Come on, come on, we don't have all day." Boris called as he reached the bottom of the plank.

Balto waited a moment before following Boris to the river. He had to see what Muk and Luk would say after such an awakening. A moment later, in the door to the helm, Muk appeared. He had fur missing from the top of his head, both cheeks, and his shoulders with tufts gone all the way down his body. Above him Luk appeared, missing fur from all over his body as well. Muk and Luk eyed Balto and carefully searched around to see if another attack would be immanent. Finally confident another attack wasn't going to be sprung, they stepped unassumingly out of the helm.

"Is, is, Boris upset with us Balto?" Muk asked meekly.

Balto laughed and smiled at the two polar bears with tufts of fur missing from all over their bodies. "No Muk. He's just trying to help."

At this Muk and Luk both looked flabbergasted. They looked each other in the eyes. "Help?" They both asked; although Luk's inquisition came out as a deep-toned whimpering.

"Balto, hurry up. I don't have all day to be messing with your hair." Boris called from a distance away. The sun began to clear the edge of the earth and a bright yellow glow filled the land, chasing away the shadows and the cold from their last hiding places. Balto ran down the plank and followed quickly after Boris under the bright sun. Muk and Luk waited a moment longer before following after their retreating friend. They made sure to keep far away from their slumber wrecking, fur pulling, assailant.

* * *

Jenna had never experienced this before. It was a new tingling sort of feeling coursing through her entire body. In fact it almost felt like any day she would get sick and come down with a fever and be bedridden and miserable. But it couldn't be an illness since she didn't get sick from it; just a new lightheadedness and feelings of peace. She also had a new set of thoughts and questions about her new friend Balto. She wondered where he came from, what he did, how sweet he could be, what he thought about way out on the boat by himself. Could she be in love with him? She had never felt what true love felt like before, so she couldn't tell if she could be, or not.

Jenna tried not to think about being in love with Balto. She pushed the words from her mind and just tried to analyze what she felt. Her symptoms were: lightheadedness, a sense of peace, and uncontrollable thoughts and feelings about Balto. _No it couldn't be love, _Jenna thought; lying to herself and knowing half as well she was. Besides, being in love with Balto, it just seemed … ridiculous. Ridiculous because Balto was a wild creature, not raised to have the natural loving kindness dogs get from being around humans. No, Balto just had to be to wild for Jenna; yet she admired the mysterious seductiveness in this. Balto did seem very kind and innocent, much kinder and innocent than Steel and his terrible ways. He did seem to care about her even though Jenna's father said Balto and his kind were bloodthirsty killers and should be put down before he got a chance to draw blood. Balto did look kind of cute in Jenna's eye. She wouldn't have minded seeing him again to admire his…um, build. Maybe Balto being a wild creature wasn't so bad a thing to be. It might make him a good protector and a natural father?

_Stop it! _Jenna commanded herself for the uncontrollable remark. How could she make any assumptions – good, bad, true, or false – on someone she didn't even know, or possibly even love? …_Oh no, _Jenna thought with a scowl, _There I go with the L word again. _Once again Jenna tried to push the L word from her mind and just analyze what she had been thinking and feeling.

_I'm not in love with Balto, I'm not in love with Balto. I'm not in love with Balto. Am I?_ Jenna wondered hopelessly if she felt true love coursing through her body. And if indeed it could be love she felt in her body and mind, why she thought she had to deny it at every corner it stabbed through.

But she also felt anger, not at Balto, but at Steel for doing what he did and threatening her. Jenna also felt angry with her father. Because sure enough the very next day her father, a crème colored husky named Duke, came over to her shed and asked if she was feeling alright after falling off a porch the night before. Jenna knew, and had it confirmed to her, that Steel had gone straight to her father's house after beating her up and made up a story about her falling off some porch while they looked at the stars and northern lights. Steel even had the audacity to say he had walked Jenna home before asking Duke to come and check on her in the morning. Jenna wanted to scream at her father for believing the lies, but she couldn't get a single word in edgewise; even when she tried to deny the story of Steel walking her home.

"Oh come on Jenna. You probably weren't right to think straight after such a fall. Steel said it was his fault you fell, but that you were yelling and screaming at him all the way back to your house about him beating you up. He said he took it very calmly and knew you would be alright in a few days time when he gets back." Duke said this in his father tone. He always spoke to Jenna in that tone of voice and it made her want to chase him out of her shed and scream at him to never come back. But she shook her head, he was her father and some things never change.

In the end Jenna could only say she felt fine and wasn't hurt and she wouldn't be angry with Steel when he returned. She didn't dare say anything about Balto; that conversation would have ended badly for her, and most likely Balto. Her father eventually left, reminding Jenna Steel would be training to become the lead dog of a team and would be back around in a few days. This left Jenna nothing but time to deal with her unaccepted feelings of love for Balto, and accepted feelings of udder hate for her father and Steel. Two long lonely days to deal with it.

* * *

Jenna awoke on the third morning in her shed behind Rosy's house on a mattress stuffed with straw under the back bench. Between the two doors Jenna, with her head held on her paws, could see the sun had come up and the day looked bright and beautiful. But almost instantly Jenna's mind began to swim with thoughts of Balto. Her head began to float off her shoulders towards the ceiling, and her stomach felt knotted up and painful. Nothing would have felt better than to run out of the shed and scream at the sky with all her might at her newfound emotions….

Jenna sighed. Once again she had fallen into the trap of waking and thinking about him. Yet the thoughts weren't too bad since she just sort of let them go now. The stomach knotting went away with food, and the lightheadedness felt sort of nice. This new tingling feeling in her body had been around long enough she didn't mind it anymore – sort of like you don't mind going blind after a while. The feelings brought Jenna steady peace and a sense of wellbeing which lasted through the day. The only side effect? She had to think about Balto all the time.

"That's it." Jenna said standing up, annoyed to death at her own rolling mind. "I need to talk to somebody about this." _But who? _Jenna's mind questioned. She thought about her friends and family, mentally reviewing a list of pictures and names and what their conclusions on the matter might be. She felt an appalling terror they would all tell her she was in love; and when she said with Balto the outcast wolf/dog they would mock her until she could do nothing to escape the shame but run away. Then there would be damages to her social standings in her circle of friends, family, and even those she didn't know. She knew she could never say the name of the one she thought about.

Finally Jenna came to the conclusion her mother would probably be the best choice. Jenna hadn't had a real talk with her mother since the day she had been adopted by Rosy. And what would a little chat about these new feeling be between mother and daughter except a bonding experience?

So Jenna rose to her feet and stretched her body, starting from her toes and working all the way to her head. She felt hungry now, but the need to talk to someone outweighed this bodily need. Jenna moved forwards to the door of the shed and gave it a good heave with her shoulder. The door opened, grinding against the snow built up along the bottom by the wind. Jenna peered out. The day looked bright; the building across the street bathed in a glow of orange in the early morning sun, the sky a perfect blue without a single cloud, a slight wispy breeze blew by.

She wondered where Balto could be right now and what he might be doing as well. Had he watched the sunrise and been thinking about her? Had he even thought about her since that night? Maybe he had only acted out of some wild wolf compassion for another creature in need, not in love like Jenna hoped? Why did she have to rub her nose against his?

_Stupid, Stupid, Stupid Jenna! _Jenna scolded her mind for thinking about him again as she stepped out of the shed and turned to push the door closed with her shoulder. She bit her lip, as punishment for thinking about him, and as well as for the strain she put into closing the shed door all the way against the build-up of snow along the bottom. Jenna began to mutter bitterly as she pushed again and again on the door. "Why do I have to think about him so much? This stupid door won't close, it never will and never does. I had to rub my big nose against his, stupid Jenna, stupid move. Come on, close! Why did I do it? It only makes me think about that stupid dog, I mean, wo-

"Hi Jenna!" Came a high-pitched squeal of ecstasy far beyond any measure of real joy from right behind Jenna.

Jenna turned with a start; frightened because she didn't know if she had finished the last word enough for Dixie to understand. Jenna's stomach felt as though it jumped into her throat and knotted into a bowtie. "Hi Dixie, you snuck up on me." She tried to laugh, but sensed the jig was up.

"So I was on my way over here to see what you were up to. Because Jenna, I haven't seen you in days. Why have you been hiding from me?" Dixie stood like she always did, with a smile hidden behind a bad-girl stance speaking in a tone higher than any normal dog.

"I haven't been… avoiding you Dixie…. I've just been …you know… busy with … a few things." Jenna didn't know what she was trying to talk about. She felt as if she just spitted words for the sake of hearing them – like the faltering start of an engine.

"Oh," Dixie's eyes went up in her head. "I think I understand what you're saying." Dixie turned and her tail fluffed out like a flag in the breeze. She began to circle around Jenna like a fashion designer designing, or a detective detecting. Halfway around Jenna, with her careful eye examining, she squealed "You're in love. Aren't you?"

"No I'm not." Jenna scoffed as she turned to face Dixie, now between her and the shed. "I've just been busy playing with Rosy and…sleeping."

Dixie's eyes sank in her head with a cold glare. Her tail fell to the snow as if to say, 'that's the best lie you have?' "Uh-huh, yeah. Jenna, I can tell a thing or two about love. I've been in love myself once or twice."

At this Jenna glared, trying to force the truth out of her friend.

"Okay, so I've been in love with a dozen or more guys!" Dixie said exasperated at the forced truth. "But I do know love when I see it Jenna." Dixie moved back around Jenna so she wasn't the one backed into a corner now. "And I do know when my girlfriend Jenna has her heart set on somebody."

Jenna felt she couldn't hide the truth about it any longer. If Dixie, her close friend, could pick her love up in a few sentences, then Jenna knew she must be oozing love like snot. She knew now she had to be in love with Balto and she had to admit it to herself now "Okay, so maybe I am." She lowered her ears and looked to the side as if admitting something dishonorable.

"Jenna," Dixie started in a comforting voice as she took a consoling step forward. "Don't worry. Everybody falls in love eventually. It's natural to have these feeling for a guy. Now aren't you glad I introduced you to Steel? I told you he was a good guy."

At this Jenna's ears went up and her eyes widened in mild shock. Cackles rose up on the back of Jenna's neck with the mention of Steel's name. Her hate for Steel made Jenna want to growl and proclaim this hated to Dixie in a firework barrage of mean words. But she couldn't do it.

Then the question occurred in Jenna's mind: should she lie about loving Steel? Or should she tell her close friend the truth? Jenna looked at Dixie's waiting face and knew her friend could never keep a secret this big. "Yeah." She said simply. "I'm glad."

"Oh Jenna I knew he was the right kind of guy for you! In fact I saw him the other day leading a team through town. He looked so powerful. Oh…" Dixie moaned and feigned to pass out. "Steel is just so dreamy, so muscular, and with a butt made of solid gold." Dixie's face turned into a blissful satisfaction. "He's quiet a guy. I'm so happy for you Jenna."

"Yeah," Jenna smiled. "Me to." Jenna speculated what she should say next. She felt she didn't acting excited enough to be in love with Steel, which Dixie might pick up on and ask her about unless she changed the topic. "Can I ask you something Dixie?" Jenna said in a hushed voice, as if others might be listening.

Dixie leaned in. "Of course Jenna." But Dixie's voice didn't quiet a bit like Jenna had hoped it would. She probably didn't know how to be quiet.

"How did you know I was in love?" Jenna repeated in a hushed voice.

"Oh Jenna." Dixie threw her paw at the question, giggling a little and leaning back away from Jenna. "I could smell it a mile away. It's in the way you stand and how your eyes glow."

Jenna thought it had something to do with her eyes, they did feel different over the past few days. Yet she didn't know it had anything to do with the way she stood. "How am I standing different?"

Dixie smiled. "Oh Jenna. You of all should know I can read body language like a book. See, most of the time you're standing like this." Dixie changed her stance so her paws were placed nearly under her body. She held her entire body in a perfect square posture; her shoulders and hips aligned with her front and back paws. Dixie then held her head so her jaw aligned parallel with the ground. "This is how you usually stand, and this…." Dixie changed her stance. She slouched her back forwards while keeping her jaw level with the ground. She splayed her front paws out to the sides, and her back ones stuck out from under her body as well. Her face became dreamy and blissful. "Is how you are right now."

Jenna realized, as she felt her body posture and face, she did stand exactly like Dixie did, with the same exact look of dreamy satisfaction. "Well maybe I'm just having a bad day, or I just ate something good."

Dixie thought about it for a second. "True, but I also heard you saying you rubbed noses with somebody when I came up." Dixie giggled at finally admitting she had eavesdropped in on her friend. "My girlfriend Jenna is starting to make some bold moves on some new frontiers." She giggled. "So tell me why you rubbed noses with him instead of the other way around?" Dixie started, her face in an uppity smile. "And how did it feel? Don't leave any detail out no matter how good or bad it may be."

Jenna thought she might try and tell Dixie a lie about how it felt to rub noses with Steel. The thought made Jenna cringe inwardly and she knew it wouldn't sound real if she had to keep referring to that mug. She knew Dixie would pick up on a lie about this in an instance. Jenna knew she had to tell the truth, but not all the truth; since it would probably be bad for Balto. Jenna felt she had to tell the truth just as much for Dixie as to hear the words coming from her own mouth.

"It was… beautiful. I touched his nose because he was to gentle and mannered to do it himself, and I wanted to thank him for… being so kind. It felt strange to me, dirty, and yet very clean and light. Then he just stood there looking at me like he just shut down and couldn't think. I probably stunned him I did it so quick. He had his mouth hanging open in this little way, and he just watched me leave with this overstuffed gratification in his eyes."

Dixie seemed to go into convulsions, her feet stamping on the snow, her eyes rolling in her head and a cry rising from her chest - which sounded to be a cross between a laugh and a scream. "OH!!! Jenna!!!! That is the most beautiful description of a first kiss I've ever heard. And it makes it all the better because you had to do the kissing because he was to shy to do it himself; and it was just a simple sweet kiss that made him stop thinking. Ohhhhhh Jenna." Dixie moaned while throwing her head back. "You have a good guy in your basket; I can feel it in my bones. I don't know what you're doing sitting here thinking about him all day for. You should be out there with him every moment you can."

Jenna knew Dixie was right. What was she doing sitting around thinking about him for? She should be out there with him on the boat getting to know him better. Jenna suddenly found she had a petrifying need to know if Balto loved her back. She felt terrified he might not like her in the way she did; especially since he was a wild creature and the way they expressed love might be different than town dogs. Jenna also felt in a state of intoxicated glory at having accepted the fact she did love him. Her mind felt clear and focused. "Maybe I will go see him today. See what he thinks of me."

Dixie squealed with joy again. "Yeah, you go and get your dog Jenna. Don't let me hold you back from this." Dixie stepped to the side as if to give Jenna a clear run into town.

"Thank you Dixie." Jenna smiled and took off running into town.

* * *

Muk and Luk carefully crawled forwards, one in front of the other, through and under the pine trees towards the river, still not in sight of the voices up ahead. They crept under the low-hanging branches, across the ground carpeted with brown pine needles which stung their paws, and through small piles of snow where the blue sky shined down on them like a spotlight on a prison escape.

They grew closer to the voices and the babbling water moving over the rocks in the river. A sudden breeze moved through the tops of the trees with a low whistle. Muk and Luk could hear the voices clear as bells now.

"Hold still Balto. You keep moving and this won't be pretty at all." Boris said with strain in his voice.

"You're pulling my hair and there's pinesap in my eyes. It burns Boris." Voiced Balto as he pled for some semblance of mercy.

Muk moved under a tree to get closer, pushing a branch to the side as he passed. Suddenly the branch slipped from Muk's paw and snapped back over his head, striking Luk square in the nose and scratching his eyes with pine needles. "OOOWWWW!!!!" Luk howled and grabbed his nose in pain as he lay on his back blinking against the flood of tears overwhelming his eyes. "mmmm,mm,mmm,m,m,,mmmm,mm." Luk mumbled in an irritated tone from under his great paws.

"You know I can't understand you when you have your paws over your mouth." Muk said turning and ducking under the branch to see to his brother up close.

Luk removed his paws and repeated his statement. "mmmm,mm,mmm,m ,m,,mmmm,mm." Luk put his paws back on his nose and rolled onto his left side. Tears rolled from his right eye, over the bridge of his nose and headed straight for his left cheek.

"Well then don't follow me so close." Muk replied somewhat exasperated at his brother's sorry statement. "You were just asking for a hit on the nose by following me so close, and don't think I did it on purpose." He waited patiently for a moment before asking. "Does it hurt as bad now?"

Luk removed his large paws and wiggled his nose while staring down at it with crossed eyes. "mmm,mmm,mm,,m,mm,,,mmmmmm;mmmmm,m,m,."

"Come on then if it doesn't hurt that bad now, let's keep moving…. and stay back so I don't hit you in the nose again…. and be quiet, I don't want Boris to hear us. What if he wants more fur?" Luk shuddered at the thought as Muk turned and began to creep under the tree towards the river; spots of fur missing from his hind-end as well. Luk, still wiggling his nose and blinking tears away, got up and followed his brother, making sure to watch out for more branches.

* * *

"Those stupid bears couldn't sneak up on themselves." Boris muttered as he looked over his shoulder. He rolled his eyes as he turned and strolled out onto the river ice towards a log with a stick held under his right wing.

The log stuck half in the river, limbless, with a huge root ball holding it on the icy bank against the speeding current. On one side of the tree there was a large gash – most likely from some tumble over a waterfall upstream. From the gash came a sticky yellow sap dribbling now and then onto the ice. Boris stuck the stick he held into the gash and twisted it around and around until it accumulated a substantial amount of sap on the end. He turned, holding the stick out in front of him, and waddled back across the ice towards Balto.

Balto sat on a rock with his front paws on the river ice. He couldn't see his new 'hair,' since he couldn't go on the thin ice and get near the water to see his reflection. That, and Boris had purposely placed him looking towards the sun so Balto couldn't see the shadow his hair cast. "How much longer is this going to take Boris?" Balto said in a cantankerous way. "Because if you get that stuff in my eyes again –"

"Don't fret about it boyo." Boris said as he moved around Balto and began to wipe the syrupy stick against the back of his head. "We'll be done in just a moment."

Balto no longer liked the idea of having 'hair.' But he had gone too far in the deal to back out now. He could never say this much pinesap and polar bear fluff was an accident. All Balto could do now was hope this wouldn't be the ugliest idea Boris ever put in his head … or on his head. He could only hope it would come out alright and Jenna would find it …'charming?'

_It feels so nasty_, Balto thought, _this is never going to come out. _Balto began to fret a little bit more; because whatever Boris was doing, it would be in their for a long while.

Suddenly from the nearby trees resonated another loud smack of a limb swishing back and hitting Luk on the nose. Luk yelled out loudly, and fell into a soft whimpering. Balto and Boris could just make out Muk muttering something to Luk. "I told you not to follow so close … of course I didn't see you."

Balto looked sidelong at Boris, tilting the great mass of… something, on his head to the side. "Is that the second limb?" Balto asked.

Boris busied himself with his stick, brushing Balto's hair this way and that, alternately throwing a mass of white polar-bear wool onto his head with his free wing. For a moment Boris stopped and looked behind him towards the trees where the two bears hid. They weren't very sneaky since Boris could see Muk's hind end sticking out of some leafless bushes. "With any luck it's the fifth or sixth time." He said continuing with his stick.

Balto giggled as Boris resumed his work with the stick, brushing this way then that way with quick strokes. Soon he began twisting and curling the stick to the left and right. Balto hopped with all his heart this wasn't a wild goose chase as a mass of real hair twisted out of his scalp. "OW!"

On occasion the stick caught one or a dozen of Balto's real hairs and yanked it out of his skull with a quick jerk. In fact it happened more than occasionally; it happened quiet often – perhaps with every move the sappy stick made. "Ow!' Balto said ducking his head down again. "Would you be a little more careful with that? You keep it up and I won't have a real hair on my head."

"I'm almost done." Boris said as he concentrated on his work. He began moving the stick a little quicker. He twirled, pulled, poked, combed, flattened, brush, pushed, stabbed, jabbed, heaved, and lugged at Balto's hair with quicker and more powerful moves of the stick.

While Boris combed and worked with his styling stick Balto barked and yelped with each hair pulled. "OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! OW…." The pain began to become excruciating: like being buried with his head in an ant hill, or having a campfire on his head, or having his skin peeled back and saltwater poured over the wound. Balto winced with the pain until he thought he wouldn't be able to take it anymore and would go unconscious or shout out enough was enough lay off.

"There," Boris said stopping, and just in the nick of time for Balto and his throbbing head. "I'm finished."

Balto opened his teary eyes and looked at the snow in front of him, unsure if this was some sort of cruel joke and Boris would start combing his hair any second. Slowly Balto realized Boris wasn't going to do this and he turned to look down at the shadow behind him. Nothing looked to different. At least there wasn't some massive troubadour horn looking thing between his ears. It just looked like some strange matted lump on the top of his head. "I can't see what it looks like. Does it look good?"

* * *

Muk and Luk could hardly contain their laughter as they held their paws to their lips, their bulging eyes peering through tears of hilarity and tree branches at Balto. They felt on the verge of exploding in a sidesplitting fit of pure joy. But they dreaded being caught and struggled against each and every breath to keep from laughing until the sun went down.

"mmm,m,,mmmmm,mmm,mmmmmm,m,mm,m,m,m?" Luk asked when he could catch his breath and remove his paws without laughing noisily.

Muk took a moment to stop laughing before he responded. "Yes Luk, it does look like a white and grey jellyfish is stuck on his head."

* * *

"Over here Balto." Boris called from some distance upstream, over rocks and ice near a leafless cottonwood tree on the bank. He stood in the sun with a glare coming off the river ice waving his wing above his head, indicating the universal sign of 'come, come.'

Balto looked up from his shadow – still trying to figure out exactly what Boris had done to him – to Boris's call. Boris still stood waving his wing, occasionally looking down at his feet towards something out of Balto's sight. _It must be a puddle,_ Balto thought as he hoisted himself to his feet and began to trot. The mass of gunk on his head swayed noticeably left and right as he plodded along through the rocks and ice towards Boris.

As Balto drew closer to Boris his suspicions became confirmed, Boris indeed had found a puddle. "Here," Boris smiled and pointed with his longest feather, "You can see your new hair in this."

Balto stopped short of the puddle, somewhat terrified to look at the conglomeration of stuff on his head. Finally Balto took a huge breath in and stepped forwards and peered down at himself in the crystal water.

What appeared on Balto's head shocked even him. His real hair and the polar bear hair mixed together in an ugly, very shiny, rock-hard wavy mass with the down-slope of the waves facing backwards. The white polar bear hair stuck out more than anything. It looked like a white dandelion all wavy and congealed in ice. In the simplest way to explain it, Balto's hair appeared as if it had turned two thirds white and then grown out six or more inches. It then looked as if Balto had taken off at a run with his hair wet and flapping in eighty degree below zero weather. His hair was permanently frozen in this spiky lump and dyed an everlasting white.

"Not to bad if I say so myself." Boris said appearing next to Balto's reflection in the water with a smile on his face. He chuckled and put his wing to his beak, admiring his work.

Balto turned and faced Boris with a start, shock splayed on his face "Not to bad! Not to bad! Boris… this looks terrible!" Balto turned away from Boris and looked out over the undulating river. "I should just drown myself. I'm never going to be able to talk to Jenna like this. And this," Balto said looking at Boris with a snap of his head, shaking the rock-hard mass around like a hat connected to his skin. "Is never going to come out." Balto turned back towards the river, actually contemplating jumping in it and letting it take him away. Jenna would never like this. She would laugh at him until she couldn't breathe.

"Balto." Boris said putting his wing confidently on Balto's shoulder. But Balto shrugged it off and looked away haughtily. "It looks good, trust me. This is what the girls go for these days. It's cunning … mysterious … and very seductive." Boris waggled his eyebrows up and down as he put his wing back around Balto.

"But look at it!" Balto said stepping out from under Boris's wing again. "It's so ugly. I mean Jenna's going to laugh and laugh at me. And then she's going to think I'm crazy and never talk to me again."

Boris put his wing to his chin and thought about it for a second. "Well, if she laughs at you for this, then you should laugh as well. Because we should always be able to laugh at ourselves. It will give you something to talk about. Now if she never talks to you again because of this, then she's not worth being with. The ones we love should love us for what's in here." Boris touched his right wing to his heart. "Not what's out here." Boris touched his right wing to the top of his head.

Balto listened to each of the words carefully. He had to admit, they sounded true. Balto had never thought about it before. If Jenna would never speak to him again because of his hair, then she probably wasn't worth having around anyways. If she couldn't deal with a little funny hair, then somewhere down the road in their relationship they would just break up over something else. But if she laughed and joked with him about it, then she did love him for him, and she would probably be worth having and loving with all his heart.

Balto looked at Boris who smiled in a cunning behind-the-back way. It occurred to Balto that this hand been a well arranged ploy by Boris and his wily old goose methods. Something hurt Balto inside for Boris to do such a thing without explaining it out first. Then again, if Boris had explained it out Balto knew he probably wouldn't have gone with it. It did seem Boris knew a thing or two Balto didn't "Thanks Boris." Balto said quietly as he looked back down at his reflection in the pool of water; Boris stood next to him looking at his reflection in the puddle as well. "But just one thing Boris."

"What's that Boychick?" Boris said looking into the reflection of Balto's eyes.

"Do you think we could do something about the color? I'd like it to match a little bit more."

Boris thought about it as he gazed in every direction around. "Okay, close your eyes and we'll do something about it." Balto closed his eyes. Meanwhile Boris turned and waddled a short distance and squatted down. He scratched something on the ground into a pile and stood up with a heavy load of it in his wings. Slowly he turned and walked back to Balto with a huge chunk of wet and sloppy grey mud held tight against his body. And then with a heave, Boris dropped the load of mud on top of Balto's head.

The weight of the mud smacking Balto's head made his jaw hit the rocks at the bottom of the puddle. Balto pulled his head out of the water and opened his eyes as a cascade of grey slime ran over his face, off the side of his nose, and into the puddle he had been looking into with a splash, soaking his feet.

From the woods came two separate and distinct laughs as two polar bear cubs rolled around and around under the trees with their paws held to their stomachs, unable to keep quiet for another second.

Never had Balto felt so foolish.

* * *

Jenna ran a ways into town, just to throw Dixie off her true destination, and then she turned. Down a dark alley she moved and at the end she stopped and peered up and down the street, just to make sure nobody she knew was around. Just a couple humans appeared to be going about their business as she crept out into the street and made her way back in the direction of Balto's boat.

Jenna already had her path set in her head: she would stair-step down alleys and across streets towards the frozen ocean, and from there she would run along towards the boat in relative safety from anybody who might be observing her from the town. Again Jenna turned down an alley and at the end peered left and right to make sure she wasn't being watched. Jenna also made sure to look behind her in case someone followed, nobody looked to be, but she couldn't tell. Soon Jenna turned down another alley and picked up the pace, she could smell the salty ocean under it's covering of ice.

As Jenna strolled along through the alleys strewn with garbage and other refuse, she came across something which caught her eye. At first she passed it by, hardly thinking about or noticing the miniature red toy cat sitting by a crumpled mattress. But as Jenna made it a dozen paces beyond the cat she stopped. In her head she mulled it over. _I very well can't show up to someone's home uninvited without a gift, can I?_ Jenna walked back to the cat.

The toy didn't appear to be anything special. It was beat-up and half broken, with paint scratched away here and there and the head twisted far to one side. Who knew, it may not even work. But as Jenna gave the cat a prod with her front left foot she beamed; the toy squeaked and tried to move through the snow and ice. Jenna knew Balto would love it as she picked it up in her jaws and carried it along.

Soon Jenna reached the edge of town and began to sneak about even quieter. A mile ahead Jenna could see the boat looming up out of the snow like a strange and familiar rock on the very edge of the earth. Jenna stopped and set the toy cat down. She had reached the edge of the buildings and wanted to get a good look around before she high-tailed it towards the boat. Slowly Jenna crept up the snowy bank, peering over a snowdrift with stalks of brown grass coming out the top, all of them broken in the direction the wind came from. She could see half a dozen buildings, grey and colored, new and dilapidated, falling down and in dis-repair. But she couldn't see any dogs along their flanks, or humans strolling about in their coats. Jenna waited to see if somebody would make a move and give themselves away. After a minute - and seeing nothing move- Jenna made hers.

Jenna climbed back down the bank and grabbed the toy cat by the head and began to run, making a beeline towards the boat, her entire body in the throws of an adrenaline rush. She ran a quarter mile before her strength began to fail her and she had to slow. She took a last peek behind to see if anybody was watching, but already at this distance she couldn't tell if anybody might be watching. Jenna turned her eyes back towards the boat and began to plod slowly along. _Maybe if I don't move fast nobody will see me,_ Jenna thought.

But then she wondered why she would be scared if somebody saw her out here in the first place. Would they tell Dixie or her father? Or maybe they would tell Steel? What did it matter if they did? She could say something about taking a run, that she felt fat and bloated and wanted to run where nobody could see her because she felt… self conscious. Yeah, that would work. Even though it was unusual for lone dogs to leave the safety of town, she might be able to pass it off as a feat of daring. Jenna smiled at her bravery for actually going to talk to Balto, outside of town, and on her own.

* * *

Dixie plodded slowly along, her chest puffed out in front of her with her head held high, – as if looking down her nose at a bug. Her tail flapped out behind her like a shredded flag of silk. She felt so proud for her friend Jenna and her newfound love, Steel. _I never thought that girl would ever get a boyfriend,_ She giggled and smiled and looked at the clouds with a deep breath. But now at least she had been proven wrong, and it felt inwardly good she had helped her best and closest friend to take this first step into adulthood.

In her mind Dixie wondered how far Jenna and Steel's relationship would go. Would Jenna eventually accept Steel as her life-mate; having puppies and following their love for each other until their dying days? Or would their relationship hit snags and break apart on the rocks in this river of life? _Well, _Dixie thought with a beaming grin, _if that happens then I'll be able to have Steel all to myself_. Dixie thought about Steel's muscular body, his strong well defined chin, and the other parts of his body she found well designed. Oh how much she wanted to have him step all over her in some feral game of cat and mouse. Again Dixie began to quiver, almost having to stop and go into one of her foot stamping fits of pure rapture.

Suddenly Steel emerged from behind a building, as if in a dream, a dozen feet in front of Dixie; his muscular body coming around a corner with a new black collar around his thick neck. It looked to be one of the average mushing collars with a big metal ring hanging under his chin. Steel wore his new collar with great pride; his head held in an elevated way as he marched towards Dixie with a timely step. Dixie couldn't help but think it fit him well.

"Hey there Steel." Dixie said modestly. "You're looking good with that new collar around your neck."

Steel looked down, as if noticing the collar for the first time. "Oh…yeah. It'll do for now. When I get the Nome five-hundred collar, then I'll have something for you to notice." Steel grinned down at the small bothersome animal in front of him. "Say Dixie, have you seen Jenna today?"

Dixie smiled; she knew she couldn't keep Jenna's little crush safe. Besides, Jenna never said to keep it a secret anyways. But steel probably already knew Jenna had deep feelings for him. Dixie began in a charming tone "Oh Jenna told me everything about you Steel."

At this Steel's face changed to one of mild dread. His eyes looked around, searching for a fire escape from the brutal tongue thrashing he would receive. "Oh…" Steel stuttered. "Wh- what did she say about me?"

Dixie giggled at Steel's shyness, which caught Steel off guard. "She just said you were the most beautiful creature she had ever laid her eyes on."

Steel's eye's twisted in befuddlement, but he smiled.

"Well not in so many words. She said you were a gentleman, kind, loving, and very timid when it came to touching noses with her. In fact she just came looking for you to tell you she loves you. I'm surprised you two didn't meet up already."

"Yeah," Steel said without emotion, his head swimming in thought. "I'm surprised we didn't either."

Dixie Stepped forwards "Well then lover-boy," Dixie rubbed her shoulder extra affectionately against Steels as she passed by him, her entire body quivering and growing hot as she did. "I guess you better go find your girl then."

Steel couldn't help but feel somewhat repulsed by Dixie and her overtly warm touch. Nevertheless he feigned a smile and cheery tone. "I think I will go and see what she's doing…. And Dixie?"

Dixie stood behind Steel, starting on her way down the street. She turned at Steel's call, her voice flush with quivering satisfaction. "Yes?"

"Could you keep this a secret?"

Dixie grinned. "Of course." She turned and trotted away without looking back.

Steel turned the other way with a scowl spread across his forehead. He knew something had to be awry here, and he was going to find out what as he picked up the pace and ran towards Jenna's.

* * *

Jenna felt the energy she had sensed over the past few days growing in her as she neared the shadowy grey trawler angled on it's side. The energy pulsated in her body like her heart had grown too big for her body. Jenna sensed the glowing in her eyes, and possibly in her body. She tried to correct this, although she wasn't exactly sure how to. She tried to concentrate on something else so it would go away.

In her mouth she still carried the toy cat, it's weight had started to wear on Jenna's neck; making Jenna complain inwardly about her soreness. This little annoyance seemed to do the trick in covering up her insecurity about her body language.

Jenna took a look back over her shoulder at the town. She couldn't make out anything except the white puffs of smoke coming out of the chimneys. The buildings looked to be nothing more than little specs on the horizon, lost in the enormity of the white mountains behind them. Nobody looked to be following her along the beach. Jenna also felt pretty sure nobody could be watching her from the town at this distance.

Slowly Jenna plodded the last hundred feet to the boat, taking her sweet time to prepare herself. _Okay, just be calm. You came out here to see where he lived as just a token of friendship. You brought the cat as a present; you thought he would like it. Don't outright confess you're love to him until the moment seems right. Just be calm, be relaxed, and be as if you do this every day. _

As Jenna came up under the boat she stopped and set the cat down in the snow. It wasn't right to just walk in without saying who was at the door. "Balto?" She called up towards the railing. A tremor went through her body; she felt she hadn't prepared herself at all. She felt on the verge of a breakdown, she wanted to run and forget everything. But Jenna held herself together and waited. "Balto?" She called again after a moment. Any moment she expected to see his fuzzy grey face appear. Yet nothing.

_I guess he's not home right now, _Jenna thought. _I wonder how I get up there? No, no, no. You don't just barge into someone's home if they're not there. But I came so far, I guess I can go up there just to leave the cat. _

Jenna picked the toy cat up in her mouth and strolled briskly around the back of the boat. There had to be some way up there. And she found it faster than she expected. The plank leaned against the boat with a hundred tracks running up and down it's length from polar bears, geese, and – she figured quite right – Balto. Jenna set the cat down at the base of the plank and sniffed at the tracks. The overpowering smell of polar bears caught her scent first. They smelled like sweat and wet fur. Then she smelled the goose, he had a fishy smell. And lastly she smelled Balto, musky and pungent; sort of like a fire in cool wet earth. She remembered his smell from the day he fell off the roof at the race.

"Balto?" Jenna called one last time. When nothing came, she picked the cat up and slowly walked up the plank.

On the deck of the boat Jenna found everything a little … humbling. There didn't look to be anything new brought to the boat since the day it ran aground. Ropes were coiled in the corner, boxes broken and intact, nets bundled into a roll, and a few hand tools – such as hammers, axes, and screwdrivers – scattered about. Jenna set the cat down at the top of the plank, where it would be the first thing Balto saw when he returned from wherever he had gone.

Jenna began to snoop around. _I'm just making sure everything's alright. _She told herself as she moved to the helm. Peeking in the little room she found the only signs of anybody having living here; an old wool blanket with more holes than cloth, and an empty tin watering dish tipped upside down. Everything looked smashed up and thrown about like a fight had taken place.

The smells in the helm wafted out and reeked of polar bear, goose, and Balto. It wasn't altogether an uninviting smell, just strange to have all of them in one small place. Next Jenna moved to the front of the boat where more tools, nets, ropes, and crates were scattered about. But here again there weren't any signs of anything having been moved or placed here since the boat-wreck. Jenna jumped up on the railing, where she could see the wood scratched from Balto's claws, and looked towards Nome.

_This is where he sits and thinks about me_, Jenna thought looking out over the scene. _I'm sure this is where he sits and thinks about me. _

Jenna cut her visit short. It didn't seem right to be in somebody else's home when they weren't there. It felt like trespassing. But the little visit also told her a lot about Balto. She knew he wasn't lying when he said he had two polar bears and a goose as friends. She knew Balto lived a very solitary, very lonely, existence with few friends of his own species, if any. Sitting out there on that boat she could sense the bitter heartbreak of being between two worlds; not quiet a dog, not quiet a wolf. This made Jenna want to love Balto all the more, to bring him into her world and be his friend, if not more.

It didn't take any time at all for Jenna to make it all the way back to Nome. Nobody appeared to be around as she neared the buildings and strolled along confidently towards the street, not bothering to hide anymore. She looked like she had just gone for a walk, just taking a stroll to think. Any minute Jenna expected somebody to jump out and say something, to ask her where she had been. But she had answers for their troubled minds.

But Jenna didn't see the set of eyes watching her as she came into town. She hadn't noticed them watching for nearly half a mile already. Steel watched her from the shadow of a nearby alley as she came. _Now where could she have been? _Steel asked as he looked out towards the distant trawler. _What could she have been doing out there_? Steel had a pretty good idea where she had been as he turned and walked into town. He had a few friends and future family members he needed to speak to.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Balto strolled across the white tundra beneath the bulky hairpiece of grey, spiky, off-grey, white, slimy, and very stiff hair. A firm look of displeasure filled his face as he sauntered along, still dripping bits of mud from his jowls like blood. His eyelids held half closed with a covering of grainy - half-dried – mud-balls of rather foul gunk. Little grey rivulets ran down his back and his front legs to the snow, leaving a steady trail of drips wherever he went.

Boris walked along next to Balto, a grin of unfathomable satisfaction filling his face as he waddled in his hefty way … far to the left, then far to the right.

Up ahead the boat began to loom out of the snow, and just to the right they could see Nome coming into view with chimney smoke wafting into the air. The sun had already reached, and passed, it's apex for the day, and would be well on it's way to the frozen sea in an hour's time. The main portion of the day had been, for the most part, wasted on a frivolous pursuit of hair.

Balto took a sidelong look at Boris and saw his pleased grin. "Why are you so happy?"

Boris honked a single laugh. "It's not every day I get this much peace and quiet." He turned his head and looked back towards the river, making sure they weren't there. A chuckle rose in his throat. "Those bears were laughing so hard they won't be able to get up till the sun goes down …. Which leaves me nothing but peace and quiet for the rest of the afternoon." Boris beamed a huge grin as he interlaced his longest feathers and put his wings behind his head in repose. "Nothing but peace and quiet."

Balto scowled and looked at the snow in front of him. "Glad I could help make you're day all the better." He growled.

"Oh don't be so mad Boyo." Boris set his right wing confidently on Balto's muddy shoulder. "I think this will all go well."

Balto looked away, he didn't know; he just didn't know anything anymore. One part of him wanted to run and hide in the trees until this stupid thing came out of his fur. Another part wanted Boris's head stuffed into a snow-bank. Yet another part said go with it, Boris knew what he's doing, he wouldn't go astray on such a thing as love. Then in between these three main ideas came a flurry of internal dialogue demanding this and that until all possibilities became lost in a fog of confused and misappropriated commands. _If only I knew she had feelings for me, then at least I'd have some place to feel safe,_ Balto thought in a cheerless tone. He let his head dangle on the end of his neck as he continued on towards the boat.

Then a most peculiar smell assaulted Balto, brought up in a sudden gust of wind; bringing Balto to a stop, his nose wide open in the air. His eye's scanned the snowy hills and shadowy edges of the boat. The smell was there for only a second, maybe less; but it was enough to put Balto's neck hair on end and his senses on alert. It smelled so faint it may not have been as close as Balto thought. Perhaps it had been some trick of the wind? Nothing looked out of place around the boat, yet something seemed – or maybe felt – different, something had to be.

Boris stopped a few feet along and turned; aware of Balto's sudden unease. "What is it?"

Balto's eyes scanned harder, searching for a miniscule movement to confirm what his apprehension screamed. His nose flared in and out with each breath, trying to sample the smell he had only faintly got. Nothing. "I thought I smelled something is all." Balto shook his head and stepped forwards, racking the smell up to a fluke of the wind and his nose.

Boris fell in line with Balto's shoulders as the walked towards the boat in their casual way.

They crossed the last hundred feet to the plank of the boat without another word exchanged. Balto kept his nose open for any other smells, and his eyes searched without success for any movements just beyond the snowy hills. Boris kept looking around; being especially sure to look behind them for the bears more than anything.

Then, as Balto got to the base of the boat, something came drifting through his nose again. It wasn't the smell had had got a moment ago, this smelled much sweeter, prettier, and transcendent. "Jenna." Balto said, completely forgetting about his hair or anything else. _She's here, _Balto thought with a jump in his heart. _She's here! She's her! she's here_!

Balto cut by Boris - sending him whirling to the snow - and ran up the bouncy gangplank in a fevered sprint. At the top of the plank sat something Balto had never seen before; a silly toy-cat tipped onto it's side and painted a rosy red. Balto had never seen such an inane thing as a toy cat; especially since there were lots of real cats to play with. But it wasn't the gift which excited Balto the most; it was the one who brought it. "Jenna?" Balto called out, thinking she might still be here. "Jenna?"

"Um … uh-Balto?" Came Boris's quaking voice at the bottom of the plank.

_Not now Boris, _Balto thought as he ran to the helm of the boat, thinking she might be waiting in their.. "Jenna?" Balto said stepping into the door of the helm and looking around. Nothing seemed different besides a few broken pieces of wood and a tuft or two of loose fur from the bear and bird fight earlier. The blanket laid on the floor in a ruffled pile, and the watering dish sat empty. Jenna, without doubt, wasn't in here.

Perhaps she had shown up and seen he wasn't around and went home. She must have shown up after he left this morning, they had been gone to the river most the day after all. Jenna then left the cat as her calling card for him to go and see her tonight, or maybe this afternoon. She wanted to talk to him. It also meant Jenna had some sort of feelings for Balto, whether or not it just meant she wanted to be friends; but it still made Balto's heart flutter in his chest like a wild bird in a cage.

"Looking for someone?" A voice growled behind him.

Balto felt his world implode and the fluttering in his chest die. Instantly the stench he thought he smelled earlier filled Balto's nose and sent him reeling back into memory, back to a name he wouldn't soon forget. "Steel." Balto growled as he turned and faced the black and white malamute standing in the door.

"Glad you remember me." Steel said in an overly pleased way. "I would have been hurt if you forgot."

Balto felt a rage building in him, vying to burst upon Steel and tear him apart. He wanted to tear into Steel's throat for all the indignant catcalls he used in days past, 'Lobo, baby killer, and just plain wolf.' Yet more than that, Balto wanted to tear Steel apart for the way he thought about his flower, Jenna. A growl began to rise in Balto's throat. But it cut short, and Balto stared helplessly as the laughter rose.

Steel began to laugh and giggle, menacingly at first, but eventually rising to laughter of the most joyous kind. Slowly Steel backed out of the helm of the boat laughing through tears, on the verge of falling over into some epileptic fit.

At first Balto wondered what could be so funny, but then he remembered, his hair. If he could have blushed he would have turned a red not known before. Somewhere in Balto's head he vowed to get Boris back for this, one way or another he would get that bird back.

"What?...Wha…? What is … is that?" Steel managed to stutter through his laughter. After a moment he calmed down enough to continue, a smile of amusement on his face. "I always knew wolves had strange habits, but this just… just take it." Tears of joy ran down either of Steel's cheeks. He looked refreshed and in great spirits for the good laugh. "Oh… mercy."

Balto began to growl again, bringing Steel's amused look to a more stoic one. "You may have beaten me before Steel, but I've grown and I've learned, and I can beat you up and down this boat all day long." Balto took a menacing step forwards to prove his point.

Steel flashed a gritty smile. "And so you have grown from the wimpy wolf pup, but it doesn't make you a better fighter. Besides…" Steel turned leisurely around and walked towards the front of the boat, flashing a great strike to the neck and back for Balto if he had been ready for it. "I have an ace up my sleeve." Steel's tail disappeared out of sight. "Come and talk with me Balto, I don't want to fight you… right now that is."

Balto felt uneasy about the talk. He wondered what Steel knew. Did he know about the night when he helped Jenna? Did he know about Jenna's coming out here? Steel had to be suspicious about something going on between them.

Balto suddenly remembered Boris, he hoped the big mouthed bird had gotten away. He hoped with all his heart that Boris was on his way back to the river for Muk and Luk. Slowly Balto stepped forwards out of the helm, taking a glance in the direction Steel had disappeared to make sure an attack wouldn't be sprung on him. Balto looked over the edge of the boat towards the plank where he last saw Boris.

The two dogs from the race, the fat dark brown-one, and the taller lighter brown one with a spot on one eye, stood on either side of Boris snarling and laughing. Boris had his wings wrapped tightly around his body, his head twisting quickly back and forth, never letting either of them from his sight for more than a second. The two dogs laughed, baring their teeth, and joking quietly between them. "I've never tasted goose before. I bet you taste … just like chicken." The fat brown one laughed at the lighter brown one's cruel words "You go Caltag."

Boris looked extremely nervous and on the verge of making a run for it. But then Boris caught sight of Balto looking down, and Boris looked up at him with a pleading expression, asking Balto to do something.

"Balto." Steel suddenly growled from the front of the boat. He stood angrily gazing over his shoulder at Balto from the same spot Balto always looked at Nome. "Get over here before I tell them to tear him in two." Steel looked back at Nome.

Slowly Balto turned away from Boris, hopeful neither of the dogs would make a move they would soon regret. Balto trotted towards Steel and sat, making sure to keep a fair distance between them. Balto waited for Steel to make his next move.

After a quiet moment Steel turned and stepped off the railing and the crate and looked long and hard at Balto, like a father disapproving of his son's dress style. "So Balto… you and me have a little problem we need to discuss, don't we?" Steel sounded very peaceful as he spoke, yet reserved and strangely anxious. He strolled casually towards Balto and sat within easy striking distance. Balto wanted to get up and move back, but he dared not. "It's come to my attention, that you and me, Balto, might have something for the same girl, which of course she can only have one of us." Steel's eye's locked momentarily on Balto with a hateful glare. "And because she's my girl, that means I get the first right to-"

"She's not you girl." Balto cut in. "She's free to –"

"-She'll be what she's told to be!!" Steel barked and sprung to his feet as if to attack.

But Balto kept his cool and remained sitting.

"She's mine. She belongs to me, and no sniveling wolf-dog is going to take that away."

Balto quietly stared at Steel, unsure if he should speak. Somehow Balto knew if he did the two of them would be locked into an epic death-battle in the bat of an eye.

"You, Balto, are a problem to contend with, nothing but a bug in my fur." Steel calmly sat back on his haunches again. "So I'm going to take care of this in the best way possible."

Balto looked questioningly at Steel."So are you saying you want to fight me for her?" Balto asked, unsure of whatSteel was trying to put across to him.

"No, no, Balto. Fighting is for a … class lower than me. I won't fight for a girl. I'd kill for one, but hopefully not in this case…. I want to do this discreetly, without involving a fight scene. So that's why I'm here, to tell you not to go anywhere near Jenna again – or else." Steel's eyes tightened and bore into Balto. "I'm perfectly willing to let you, and your bird friend go, as long as you give me your word, to never go near Jenna again."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I will tear your little friend apart, piece, by, piece." Steel growled, letting the words roll off his tongue like the chopping of an ax. "Besides…" Steel said standing up. "What are the chances Jenna would ever actually like you. You seem to forget your place in this world. You are a half-breed, and she is a purebred, like me."

"Love has nothing to do with what breed you are." Balto said defiantly while lowering his eyes to Steel's feet – shielding himself from seeing the verbal blow sure to follow.

Steel threw his head back and gave an embellished laugh. "Love! You actually think she would ever love you, a half-breed despised and detested by everyone in town? She could never love you."

"And why not?" Balto growled looking up.

Steel lowered his head down in front of Balto's face, letting his eye's touch Balto's in a way Balto had never experienced from friend - or enemy. "Because if she did, everyone would hate her as much as they hate you. Think about it." Steel pulled his head back away from Balto and turned his body sidelong to him. Yet Steel's eyes remained focused on Balto's face. "Everyone hates you so much, that if she was fool enough to fall in love with you, she would be finished. She would have to hide her face from everyone she knows, her friends, her mom, her dad, and even from those who don't know her. Everyone would hate her guts, all, because, of, you." Steel let the words roll out of his mouth individually again.

Balto knew, even though he didn't want to, Steel was right. Jenna could never love him. Balto could never let her love him. The images of Jenna being trodden over, label as a lobo lover, and run out of town by a pack of snarling dogs; just for her right to love whomever she choose - hurt Balto more than any physical wound could. Although Balto could have his love, he could never allow Jenna to give up such a thing as her place in the world she grew up in. Balto knew how hard it was to live without a place in life. He could never allow her to experience that same hardship.

"So you see Balto," Steel's hard voice returned to Balto's ears. "What you want, you just can't have, unless you … want to … hurt Jenna."

Defeat, the dreadfulness of it filled the air with a quivering stench. Balto felt Steel's trouncing words as if he had killed Jenna with his own teeth. Balto looked at the deck of the boat and felt tears rolling up into his eyes. He blinked hard and clenched tight. Nothing would ever allow them to be together, nothing.

Steel turned and looked towards the plank. "So I hope this little chat has at least put you in your place, Balto. Because if I see you anywhere near her again … I'll tears you apart." Steel trotted a few steps away, then turned and began trotting slowly back. "And just to remind you of your place-"

Suddenly Steel charged forwards and slashed at Balto with his teeth, catching Balto totally off guard and without a chance to defend himself. Steel's teeth sunk into Balto's left shoulder, through his fur, and into his body. Steel then wretched backwards with all his might, still holding onto Balto; tearing Balto's shoulder open in one quick move before he let go.

An inch wide by three inch long gash appeared, gushing blood. The pain of the attack dropped Balto to the deck with a heavy thud and gasp of pain.

Steel licked his lips of the blood and trotted towards the plank smiling indifferently. Then Steel slowly turned and looked back at Balto, still lying on the deck bleeding. "Oh, and one last thing Balto."

Balto looked over at Steel.

Steel smiled. "I really like your hair."

Steel laughed, the turned and looked down over the railing of the boat. "Okay Nikke and Caltag, let the bird go and let's get going. We're finished here." With a casual turn of his head Steel took a final look at Balto, then trotted down the plank.

For a moment Balto listened to Steel and the other two as they walked away, gently chatting and giggling like young boys do. Then the three of them were gone, their voices disappearing into the wild.

Balto dug his face into the deck with the pain of the wound, Jenna, and everything else pounding in his temples. Tears welled up so hard in his eyes they ran down his face and mixed with the blood on the deck. Blank anger filled Balto's mind in such a way he didn't know what to do. He didn't know how to deal with what he felt, so he laid absolutely still, cried, and hoped, beyond hope, for death.

A moment later Boris appeared off to Balto's left, gentle waddling towards Balto. "Boychick, are-"

"-I'm fine," Balto said snapping out of his miserable trance. He sat up and looked around, as if he had forgot where he sat. "I just need to… be … be alone for a …a while."

Boris stepped forwards with his wings spread as his eye's caught sight of the wound on his shoulder. "But your bleeding, we need to stop the bleeding."

The sight of Boris, his face sad and ready to comfort, made Balto momentarily hate Boris with everything in his heart and soul. Something made Balto suddenly hate everyone who ever had feelings for him. How could they ever love him? Why would they ever want to love him? He was only a halfbreed.

Balto jumped to his feet before Boris could get near him or say anything more. Balto bolted to the back of the boat in a sprint, down the plank, and out across the tundra towards the mountains with a small trail of blood following him.

* * *

Jenna paced impatiently back and forth across her shed, which didn't provide much thinking room; because the shed was only eight feet wide. So as soon as Jenna reached one of the walls she'd turn around, walk a few steps, think a few words, and find herself up against the other wall and turning. She'd been pacing long enough her trail had worn down into the wood floor, through the dirt, grime, and loose hair.

The day grew late, hours passed by in what seemed decades. It had been hours since Jenna had been on the boat with the toy cat. Now she wondered if maybe it was all a mistake.

"Oh… where can he be? Why hasn't he shown up?" Jenna turned around and walked back to the other wall. "He should have gotten the message by now, shouldn't he have?" Jenna stopped and looked at the wall; it seemed to be mocking her. She turned around again. "Maybe I shouldn't have gone out there? I shouldn't have taken the toy cat out. It was such a stupid idea Jenna."

Then she realized something, and felt terribly stupid for not thinking of it sooner. She turned and walked to the door and peeked through the crack between the doors at the sun. Soon it would set and darkness would take the streets – and then…. "Oh Jenna, you're so stupid. He's not going to come into town during the day. He's going to wait until it's dark." Jenna shook her head at her foolishness. She turned and looked towards her bed at the back of the shed. "Perhaps I should take a rest before he shows up, just so I won't look like I've been pacing back and forth all afternoon waiting for him." Jenna smiled and walked to her bed, laid down, and shortly fell asleep.

* * *

Jenna awoke some time later. She hardly realized she had drifted off as she stood up from her bed, not quiet sure what had woken her, still half asleep with a distant haze over her eyes. She looked across the shed at the doors, and for a moment, wondered what time it was. Then she heard the scratch of a single paw on the door. The fur on Jenna's neck stood up as she realized who it was. At first she opened her mouth to call out to him, but then thought better of it and instead moved to the door at a measured pace, cautiously crouched low as if to leap away from an attack. She stopped at the door.

"Balto?" She called in a shy voice.

"Jenna, open up, it's your mother and father." Came a stoic and heated voice which made Jenna cringe. If Jenna knew it was just her mother she would have let her in without a thought. But since Jenna's father was there, she hesitated.

"Jenna," came Jenna's father. "We need to talk to you about Steel."

Again Jenna hesitated at their call; she really didn't want to talk to her father about Steel. Yet she knew she had to open the door and face them since they knew she was home. Jenna pushed her shoulder into the door. The door opened and Jenna stepped back to give them room. Jenna's mother entered, followed closely by her father. They walked to the rear of the shed and sat down next to each other. Both their faces appeared angry, with a mixture of deep disappointment and anguish.

"Jenna," Jenna's father, Duke, said with a tone of superiority. "Come here."

Jenna stepped towards them, looking sheepishly at their faces. Duke scowled at Jenna over his nose. Jenna's mother, Flower – a mostly rust colored dog with crème socks on her back feet – looked even angrier than her father with her slightly bared teeth and misgiving eyes.

Jenna expected Flower's verbal, or physical attack, at any moment. Jenna sat down in front of them and kept her eyes to the left and down towards the floor.

"Jenna," Flower said, her voice quaking with anger. "We have reason to believe, your father and me that is, that you have been cheating, on Steel, with … a wolf." The words came hard, each one forced. "Is this true?"

Jenna looked at her mother, and then at her father, feigning a look of shock. "No, of course not. I don't know where you would get such an outra-"

"Steel told us." Duke cut in, brining Jenna's charade to a stop. "He said, that earlier today he saw you walking into town from that boat east of town - where that dirty wolf Balto lives."

Jenna looked down at her parent's feet. She knew she had been caught. "Half wolf." She whispered.

"What?" Duke said raising his voice.

Jenna raised her head and looked defiantly at her father. "He's only half a wolf I said."

Duke growled and bared his teeth and rose halfway up off the floor to attack. But something stopped him. "I don't care if he's only one-eighth wolf, you are a purebred, not-not some hussy …mutt!" He barked.

"You should know better than to be around wolves Jenna." Flower voiced passionately. "You know he's after only one thing. He's a wolf and –"

"- No he's not!" Jenna barked disobediently. "Balto's nothing like you two have told me about wolves. He's sweet, he's compassionate, and he's like nobody I've ever met."

For a moment Duke and Flower looked at their daughter without a word spoken. Then Flower stepped forewords with a new tenderness in her eyes and smile. "Jenna, that's what Balto wants you to think. He'll tell you that you're beautiful, that you're special, and that he'll take care of you no matter what. Then when you trust him enough to turn your back he'll take what he wants – and if you're lucky he won't kill you outright when he's done."

"He's not going to do any of those things!" Jenna replied sharply. "Steel is the one who does that-"

"Steel is a fine young dog who's going places in life!" Duke barked. "Who – who's this Balto? He's a nobody who will live his entire life as an outcast-"

"-Only because nobody will give him a chance…. Everybody looks at him and sees his-his fur and his build and they-they only see a bloodthirsty wolf from our nightmares and- and children stories." Jenna paused for a breath. Her voice faltered and cracked with each word. "Has-has anybody ever just taken a moment to talk to him, to-to see past his fur and get to-to know him, as more than a wolf, or a dog, but just as somebody who wants love and acceptance like the rest of us?"

This, once again, brought Flower and Duke to a stop. They looked at each other and looked to be having a quiet conversation going on between them, although their mouths didn't move

Duke stepped forwards with a new benevolence on his face. "Jenna, this is not about his acceptance, or who he is. This is about you, your safety, and your life. You should be thinking of your purebred bloodline, and you should be looking for a life-mate who is also a purebred, who will take care of you, love you, and be their for you when you don't know best, like Steel."

Jenna growled in her throat. "Dad, will you quit telling me about Steel. I hate him with every part of my body. He's the real nobody in this town, and you won't take your daughters word about it because Steel lies to your face and tells you what you want to hear. Steel's the real wolf around here."

Duke growled and his face turned furious. "You have no idea what sort of evil you are dealing with here Jenna! And you have no idea what you are talking about! Steel is just looking out for you. Isn't that right Steel?"

"Yes it is Duke."

Jenna turned to the door, a look of horror etched into her face. Just in the door, standing with an upset casualness, Steel looked glumly up at Jenna. His face contorted into a sad grimace as his eye's bore into Jenna with genuine heartbreak.

Slowly Steel stepped forwards into the little family circle. "When I saw what you did today Jenna, it…it hurt me. I mean, I thought you and I had something real, something special." Steel sat down a foot to Jenna's left, his eyes beginning to well up with tears. "I was on my way to see you, since I hadn't been around in a while with my training going on and all, and-and you weren't here. I looked all over town for you, and eventually found Dixie. She said that you were out looking for me, and she told me that we touched our noses together on that date we had a few days ago." Steel looked down as if trying to suck the tears back into his eyes, a single sob escaped him. "Which I knew you and I haven't done at all."

Flower gasped and Duke choked as he stuttered on. "Wh…wha,what!?! What is this he's saying Jenna? Have-have you been getting friendly with this wolf?"

"No, well… I mean… Balto… he was there … when I-"

"-I'm afraid she has lost some, but not all, of her purity to this impure beast." Steel stated matter-of-factly.

Flower gasped and her eyes lit up with a new lividness, as did Dukes. Duke stood up. He vibrated with a rage he could hardly cope with anymore. "I've never been so upset, or angry, in my entire life Jenna." His eye's moved quickly about the room, but nowhere near his daughter – which was where his rage stemmed from. Duke looked at Steel and beyond to the door of the shed. "I'm going to rip, this Balto's legs, from his body."

Jenna gasped at her father's remark, tears formed in the edges of her eyes.

"Please sit Duke." Steel said calmly. "I've already taken care of Balto."

Jenna looked fearfully at Steel. "You didn't?"

Steel turned to Jenna. "I merely reminded him of his place and where he belongs in relation to you." Steel put simply.

The words sounded, to Jenna, unsympathetic and cruel. They came unwrapped, in a subtle basket of polished terms, hidden behind a hedge of twisted lies. Jenna wanted to stand up and scream at them all; scream they were all foolish,liars, and know-nothings. But she felt the prison bars of her social standings crushing her under a weight she couldn't ever hope to lift. Everyone had expectations for her to be what all the other purebreds before her were. She was expected to grow up, get a purebred life-mate, have purebred pups, and to grow old with her life mate – even if she hated him with all her heart.

"Now Jenna." Duke said in his authoritative tone again. "I'm not going to have some childish crush on a wolf ruining your life. We know better than you on this."

Jenna knew she had no choice but to listen and obey them now.

Duke continued. "I'm ordering you to forget this Balto, and to never go near him again. I don't ever want you to see him in private, or in public. I don't want you to speak his name, or to even think about him from this point on. Do you understand?"

Jenna shook her head, yes.

"I can't hear you Jenna!?!" Duke ordered.

"Yes." Jenna said still looking at the floor.

"I want to see it in your eye's Jenna." Duke ordered again.

Jenna slowly looked up; her blue eyes rimed red with tears. A sob bubbled up in her throat, but she stopped herself short of letting it out. "Yes father, never again." Her face dropped to the floor and the sob escaped along with a flood of tears.

Everyone remained silent for a long moment as Jenna cried.

"Now nobody but us four know anything about this." Flower started, looking at all their faces - except for Jenna who still had her eyes on the floor. "And we're going to keep it this way. I don't want to hear anything about my Jenna having anything to do with Balto, or a wolf, or anybody else."

"Not even a rumor will be passed, anybody who says anything will have to deal with me." Steel pledged.

Flower smiled as she looked at Steel admiringly. "And I want to thank you Steel, for telling us about this before it got out of hand."

Steel smiled. "No problem … mother."

Jenna raised her head and looked bitterly at her mother. Flower beamed wide at the remark, already accepting Steel, in some way, as her son-in-law. A churning feeling began to roll Jenna's stomach, threatening to spill her guts on the floor. She felt so helpless against her parents or Steel.

Flower's voice became harsh again. "Now Jenna, we're going to leave you and Steel alone for the evening, so you two can work things out. I expect this little event won't have to be repeated?"

Jenna looked up, as if to yell in protest at Steel's staying. But Flower's expression forced Jenna's face back down. "Yes mom." Jenna said dishearten, her face s plastered to the floor.

Suddenly Flower pushed her face into Jenna's shoulder and neck, embracing her in a motherly nuzzle. "I hope you know we did this for your own good. We did this because we love you Jenna." Flower whispered in her daughter's ear. After a quiet, motherly moment, Flower pulled away and walked a few steps to the door of the shed. She turned before reaching the door and looked at Duke. "Have you anything more to say Duke?"

"Yes hun," He said looking at Flower with a lovers smile. "I just want to congratulate this fine young dog." His voice turned to a whisper and he stepped closer to Steel. "And I want to say, that if you ever see that wolf-dog Balto near my daughter again, I want you to make sure he won't ever get up again. Understand?"

"Yes sir. I may even get your help with it." Steel beamed at Jenna's father.

Duke mimicked Steel's smile and followed after Flower. They walked through the open door and out into the night. A quiet, and very distant, conversation came up between them. Jenna could just barely hear them talking about the snow falling and what a terrible night it was. Jenna heard the wind lapping against the back of her shed as they walked out of hearing range.

Steel followed them to the door "Have a good evening." He called as they walked away. Then he stood waiting for a long time, watching them leave. Finally, when they were far enough away, Steel turned back into the shed with an evil grin and sly look across his face. "Now Jenna, It's just you … and me."

Jenna looked fearfully at Steel with tears running down her face. She wished Balto was here to do something.

* * *

Balto ran and ran and ran and ran and ran until his lungs burned and his head became dizzy. His eyes began to blur around the edges and pulsate with his every heartbeat. For a while he stumbled on, unsure of anything, only moving forwards to get away from the pain. After a time he couldn't go a step further and he collapsed into the snow, got up and walked a bit further, then collapsed for the last time where he laid breathing, in, then out.

Finally Balto managed to come back around. He no longer felt dizzy, and his eyes no longer blurred or pulsated. Balto sat up and felt the pain of his strained muscles burn through his entire body. He took a sidelong glance at his shoulder where the large gash still remained. It didn't look to be bleeding anymore, all the open flesh and blood had congealed into a rough patch. Dried rivulets of blood ran down his shoulder to his paw like a sleeve of twisted tattoos. Balto knew he had lost a lot of blood from how his head kept spinning – but it wasn't enough to outright kill him. He looked around with a bleak glaze in his eye, disheartened in some way he hadn't died.

He had made it to the base of the mountains and the trees that lined their fringes without slowing down once. Behind him he could see the boat, a good four miles away. Balto could also see the town, just to the right and mile further than the boat. The sun began to fall fast in the sky, and in a short while would set. The front edge of a storm cloud began to peek over the mountains to the northwest of Nome.

Today had been a terrible day and Balto couldn't wait for it to end. He wanted nothing more than to move beyond all this: beyond Jenna and his foolish love for her, beyond his wanted to be accepted by the town, and beyond Steel and his hateful words. Balto just wanted to return to his bleak life of day to day survival. Balto wanted to forget everything from the past three days.

The wind began to blow down the mountain. Balto knew he wasn't going to go back to the boat tonight; he couldn't stand to face Boris right now. But he also knew he would need a place to sleep that was out of the snow. Balto remembered an abandoned den just a mile or so to the west of where he was, in the trees, by a small spring. It would provide the best shelter for miles around.

So Balto stood up and began to trot along through the trees towards the den. He let his head hang low – but he couldn't ever let it hang as low as he felt.

* * *

Balto found the den as he came strolling through the poplar trees with the storm clouds beginning to blow over the mountains and rustle his fur. The very tops of the trees started to sway in the breeze and whistle with each brushstroke against the sky. In no time the storm would be going strong. Balto casually ambled the last few feet down the slope to the den.

The main entrance to the den resided under a twenty foot wide boulder, in the middle of a bunch of poplar trees, which grew thick and strong from the constant flow of spring water nearby. It was a very quiet and secluded spot where nobody, except a few kids and young dogs, ever went – especially in the winter.

Balto slowly ambled up to the den, making sure to sniff-out the area before getting to close. He didn't want to crawl down into the den to find a hibernating bear rushing out of the darkness to meet him. _That would really complete this day_, Balto thought listlessly. Nothing smelled out of place as he got close to the den entrance. At least there wasn't the overpowering smell of bear-breath wafting out of the ground.

Balto took one last depressing look around. He could see the spring water bubbling out of the ground nearby and forming a little pool a dozen feet away from the den. But other than the little bit of open water above the continuously pumping spring, the water was frozen solid, or covered over with ice. The poplars shivered in the breeze, and a few spruce with their thick covering seemed to jiggle with laughter. Everything was quiet, and nothing appeared out of place as Balto turned and crawled down into the darkness of the den.

The den was old, very old; probably older than the town of Nome. Balto had one time wondered how recently wolves lived in the den. They had probably left about the time the humans showed up on the shores looking for gold. The humans had probably shot, trapped, and skinned the last wolves to live in the den – however long ago it might have been. In the back of Balto's head he imagined the last wolves to live in the den running away, their pups dangling in their jowls as they crossed over the ridge into the next valley.

Balto crawled through the twisting tunnel, down a dozen feet or more until the den opened up into the darkness of the main chamber. The den stretched ten feet across, and stood five feet high in the middle. Above Balto the rock, which rested over the den entrance, stuck through the dirt providing a very solid roof. In the exact center of the den, piled a foot or so deep, were bunches of old spruce boughs. They were brown and no longer smelled like spruce, but instead smelled of a strange funk which curled Balto's nose hair. _But at least it's warm_, Balto thought; the first bit of cheer it seemed he felt in years shinning through a hairline grin.

Yet it wasn't enough to light his optimistic fire, everything was just too damp for that. Balto crossed to the boughs with his head hung low. The memory of Jenna, Steel, and Boris's funny idea about hair – and every other problem in his life – filled him with such pain and uncertainty. It felt as if only death would be able to cure him of this pain, or at least a deep and forgetful sleep.

Balto stepped onto the boughs and turned around three times, mashing the needles down to make a more comfortable bed to sleep on. Balto laid down and rested his eye's on the far end of the den. After a few minutes, he slept.

* * *

"So Jenna, what shall we do first?" Steel said as he crossed the shed in a leisurely step, licking his lips and eyeing Jenna like something delicious. "We could … Oh, I don't know … go and…" Steel shook his eyebrows up and down

"Steel. You are sick!" Jenna barked. She still had tears in her red eyes. "If you think I would ever-"

"- Oh, I don't think … I know." Steel suddenly charged towards Jenna, his teeth bared and aiming for the back of her neck.

Jenna ducked down. Steel misjudged his step and flew over her back and into the wall with a crash. The shovels, picks, and gold-pans which had been leaning against the wall crashed down around him.

Jenna bolted for the half-open door and slammed her shoulder into it. The door swung open instantaneously, with Jenna following right behind, landing in the freshly fallen snow on her side. Jenna jumped to her feet and bolted into the snowstorm, unsure of where she was going. Behind her she could hear Steel pulling himself up from his mess.

"JENNA COME BACK HERE!"

* * *

Sleep came to Balto, a deep and blissful state of nothing vanishing into the distance of nowhere. Every problem in Balto's waking life went away: Jenna went away, Steel went away, Boris went away, and all the people and dogs of Nome vanished into the ether. Balto began to feel a very slight drifting motion, as if he were on a boat and floating down a slow moving stream in the darkest of nights.

Odd shapes and colors began to pass in front of Balto's vision. They were vaguely familiar, yet distant and unassuming. Then images of real things began to come. There were rocks of all different colors, shapes, and sizes. There were trees, and snowy hills; but always unfamiliar and with no real care or need to identify where they were. This went on for a while.

But then the shapes and hills began to converge and congeal into floating puzzle pieces, which slowly began to move together to form an image. Some of the images of hills moved back, and the images of trees and rocks moved closer. Suddenly there were two yellow eyes rimmed black, staring straight ahead and filled to the brim with compassion. Then there were two ears, a mouth with a neck stretching away out of sight. The face of a white wolf took shape. Yet this wasn't just any white wolf. Balto suddenly let out an echoing scream which resounded through his skull and the den. "MOTHER!!!!!"

Swiftly the dream shattered apart and Balto sat upright in the den on the boughs with the wind blowing outside. At first Balto felt another depressing thought begin to creep into his skull, now he missed his mother. Everything felt so hollow. Balto began to cry again.

But then Balto raised his eyes towards the tunnel he had come down, she was there. She sat in the corner of the den, looking across at him. "Hello Balto." She smiled sweetly. She looked the same as the day when she had left Balto, her virgin white fur shining crystal clear in the darkness. Her yellow eyes piercing and all-knowing.

"Mother?" Balto said sheepishly. "Is it really you?"

"Yes Balto. It's really me." She replied, her voice angelic in the hollow echo of the cave.

Balto jumped to his feet and rushed to her, and she to him. They met in a nuzzle Balto thought he would never be able to have again. Together they embraced each other, holding for what seemed an infinite amount of time. Mother and son once more together.

Then Aniu stepped back from Balto. "My, how you've grown." Her face turned to one of befuddlement. "And this thing you've done with your hair?"

Balto looked at the floor of the den. "It's Boris's idea. He wanted to make a fool of me to see if Jenna woul –"

"-I know, you don't need to explain." Aniu cut in. "I've been watching over you, and Jenna. I just wanted your reaction to it."

Balto felt a hurt in his heart. "If you've been watching me, then why haven't you come to see me?" Balto looked up into his mothers eyes, pleading. "If you've been watching me, you could have-"

"-I couldn't." She interrupted. A long silence filled the den as Balto looked at his mother, waiting, expecting her to explain. Then Aniu spoke. "Do you remember what I said when I left you?"

"Yes. You said, 'I'll be there for you when you need me most, now stay still, I'll be right back.'" Balto repeated, going back into a painful memory far away. Balto dropped his eyes to his mother's feet; he thought back to that day again. "Mother, what happened to you? Why didn't you come back?"

"That's not important." Aniu said, her voice bringing Balto's eye's back up to hers. "What's important is that I'm here to help you, and to clean your fur." She giggled and smiled and stepped by Balto, heading towards the tree boughs in the center of the den. She lay over on her side on the boughs facing Balto. "Now come here and let me clean that out of your fur, and tell me why you're crying."

Balto walked over to his mother and lay down up against her stomach, facing the same way she did. Balto felt safe, like he had when he was a pup. Aniu began to lick the fur on top of his head, and the blood and mud from his shoulder. As she cleaned his fur, Balto began to repeat the whole story to her. He told his mother everything about Jenna, about himself, and about Steel. Balto told everything right up to this moment. Aniu listened, gently licking his head again and again and again.

When Balto finally finished his story he turned and looked at his mother with tears rolling up in his eyes again. "Now I have to let her go because we come from two very different worlds. We can never be together. I could never ask Jenna to leave her world, and I can't join her" Balto looked down, sulking.

"Why not?" Aniu spoke for the first time in a while.

Balto thought about it and looked up at Aniu. "Well… because of our diff-"

"-Besides that?"

Balto thought and thought, trying to come up with a reason besides Steel saying he couldn't. But nothing came. "I-I don't' know."

"I thought so." Aniu replied softly as she stood up and began to circle around Balto, heading slowly towards the den entrance.

"But then how can we be together?" Balto said watching her circle. "I don't know what I could do?"

Aniu turned around and faced Balto head on. "Sometimes when we really want our love to be, we have to let it go free. Then if we are meant to have love, a chance will open itself to us one day. We only need to have faith, intelligence, patience, fidelity, a big heart, and a keen eye backed with unfathomably courage for when these moments present themselves." Aniu turned around again. "Now I want to show you something, follow me. There isn't much time left." Aniu crouched down and slipped up out of the tunnel to the outside.

Balto wanted to question her about the time statement, but she had gone. Balto jumped to his feet and followed her up the tunnel.

Outside the weather had changed for the worse, snow blew around and the trees creaked and groaned in the unbearable wind. Balto looked for Aniu. For a moment he thought he had lost her in the snow. Then he saw her, standing with her back to him, near the spring where the water rushed out of the ground. "Come here Balto." She said sweetly over her shoulder. "I want you to see something

Balto walked to her right side and stood. The spring rushed out of the ground just in front of their paws. "What is it?" Balto said looking into the water. "It's just a spring."

"No," Aniu corrected. "Look deeper into it."

Balto looked into the water, squinting and straining his eyes into the bubbling pool, trying to go deeper down into the darkness. Then something began to form deep within the pool. It began to float to the top of the water like a leaf from the bottom of a stream. He could see a box the carpenter was building in a back room. It night had fallen. Then the image changed. Balto could see the shadow of a dogsled team pulling a sled with a driver in the basket. Suddenly the lead dog took shape and color, and Balto saw himself as more of an adult in the lead traces. Balto could sense the urgency in his own face. He was racing against time.

Balto looked up at his mother. "I don't understand it. Why am I on a sled-dog team?"

"Look again, look deeper." Aniu said shaking her nose towards the pool.

Balto looked into the water. It was just water bubbling out of the ground once more. But again he strained and squinted and another image began to form and float to the top. This time it was a box with something moving inside it. They began to take shape, and Balto realized they were rust colored puppies. But one of them was grey and wolfish, like himself. Then Balto saw Jenna, older and more beautiful. She was smiling at him. Balto felt Jenna's love for him beaming through in her smile, and a strange sort of heartbreak. The puppies were going away.

Balto looked up at Aniu. "Is this the future?"

Aniu closed her eyes and shook her head, yes.

"So then me and Jenna will be together after all?" Balto looked hopefully towards his mother.

"Maybe, but not today or tomorrow." She said simply. "You must first let Jenna go and grow up. Then one day you will have a chance to do a deed so great, so selfless, the entire world will know about it." Aniu smiled. "And then you will be able to be with her, and everyone will know who you are." She smiled. "You just need to keep your faith, your patience, your big heart, your fidelity, your intelligence, and your selfless courage; and then this will come to be true. Just reach for the light, and find out who you are." Aniu turned back to the spring. "Now I want to show you one last thing."

Balto looked into the pool. An image began to form again. This time he saw Jenna, as she was now, running through the snow. She was scared and breathless. She needed help. Behind her Balto saw Steel chasing after her tracks. "JENNA, GET BACK HERE!!" he barked. Suddenly Jenna was at the end of an alley, with building on all sides, no place to go. Steel stood at the end of the alley closing in on Jenna.

Balto raised his head to look at his mother to ask if this was happening right now, but she had disappeared. All around Balto twisted his head looking for her in the snow, and then he heard a voice echoing out of everything and everywhere. It was Aniu's sweet voice. "_Balto, wake up_, _find out who you are._"

* * *

Balto awoke, lying on the tree boughs, in the center of the den, with the wind blowing outside. He was alone, and he realized everything had been a dream. Yet he looked hopefully towards the den entrance, in suspense to see his mother there. But she wasn't. He was alone.

Yet the dream still remained in the front of Balto's skull. Had any of it been real? Could it really have all been just a dream? Was it all just some fiction, brought out by the hopeless mess he was in?

Balto knew where he could find out if it was just a dream. Standing up, Balto quickly moved to the den entrance, up through the tunnel, and into the wind and snow which blew as it did in his dream. Balto looked down at the snow, but there were no fresh tracks. He then moved across to the spring and looked in, straining, trying to bring something to the surface. Nothing came. It was just a spring gushing water. It had all been a dream, nothing real.

Then Balto turned to go back to the den when he left shoulder suddenly smarted. He looked at it. His large wound was still there, and had broken open in his haste to get out of the den. A small trickle of blood ran down his shoulder, where the older blood and mud still remained in it's spider web pattern. Soon the fresh blood froze, clotted, and stopped. None of it had been real. Aniu hadn't returned and cleaned his fur and told him all those things. It was just a stupid dream.

Balto began to turn to go back to the den and pass the storm sleeping. Balto took several steps to the den, ready to pass it all off as an illusion, when he stopped. Something was different. Balto turned back to the pool and looked back into the bubbling water, but it was moved to fast to see anything. Balto moved around the spring, trying to see his reflection on the edge where the water was stillest. He found it in a small spot where he could see himself clearly.

The mess which had been on Balto's head was gone, completely. All that remained was his usual tuft of free flowing wolfish hair. Balto realized with a smile what his mother said was real. He only needed to he keep his heart, his intelligence, his patience, his fidelity, his faith, and his courage. Then it meant he would be with Jenna one day. Then the hair on Balto's neck stood up as he looked in the direction of the town.

"Jenna."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

Jenna ran and ran and ran and ran, down the streets and alleys, trying to stay ahead of Steel. She could hear him yelling out, screaming out from somewhere behind her. She could almost hear his footfalls next her, running up to attack, to throw her down, to have her.

Jenna gritted her teeth as her endurance began to falter. Her tongue lolled from her mouth and her steps weaved drunkenly from side to side. She needed to rest, but she knew she couldn't. She stumbled on, panting, turning here and there and going further in a direction she didn't know to a place she didn't know where.

In her heart she wished Balto was here to help her. She knew she would have given anything to see his fuzzy face usher her into some secret hiding place. But for all she knew he could be dead. Jenna felt a pain in her heart as the idea hit her. She hoped he wasn't dead, she prayed in her heart he wasn't dead.

Jenna turned, panting and bleary-eyed into another alley. Snow blew in her face and blinded her as she bolted forwards. She ran down the alley, blinking the snowflakes away from her eyes as they hit. Then as she neared the end of the alley, she realized with a start she had no place to go. Her entire body shook as she realized her mistaken turn. All around her the buildings closed in with garbage and other refuse in large piles. She couldn't see a place to climb out, no fence to jump or squeeze under, just tall buildings all around, their cold black windows gazing down on her with sinister pleasure.

"JENNA, GET BACK HERE!!" Steel yelled out from behind her.

The fur on Jenna's neck stood straight up. She looked around her, panicked to find a spot to hide or escape. Then she noticed a scratched up wood door slightly ajar to her right. Jenna bolted to the door and pushed it in with her shoulder. The door opened easily and she stepped inside out of the snow. But beyond the door there was nowhere to go. She had stepped into a very small and cramped shed. Lots of hand tools surrounded by several piles of old burlap sacks and lumber filled the interior of the shed. Jenna turned and pushed the door closed with her shoulder, then sat in silence, breathing, waiting, hoping Steel wouldn't find her. Jenna closed her eyes and spoke softly, praying. "Oh Balto. Please come and help me…. Please help me." She waited.

Steel stopped when he saw her tracks turning in the snow. He knew this alley, and he smiled at Jenna's mistaken turn. He had her, and he yelled out so she knew he did. "JENNA, GET BACK HERE!!" He smiled, she wasn't far now and she had no place to go.

Without haste Steel stepped into the alley, following Jenna's tracks into the wind and snow. Steel let his breath calm as he moved along, carefully looking left and right to see if she might be hiding in the garbage, ready sneak by him as he passed. But Jenna's tracks went down the center of the alley. Any moment he knew he'd find her trying to make a last escape, or cowering in some hiding spot.

Steel knew she could hear him and he spoke out loud. "Oh Jenna, why don't you come out here and we can … talk this over. I think you and me had a little misunderstanding." Steel knew he was almost at the end of the alley. "I'm not mad Jenna. I just want to make sure that you're okay."

Steel stopped and looked at the snow in front of his feet. He could see her tracks stopped here, and then turned to a closed door. Steel knew she was behind the door; and he knew from times passed the door went nowhere. "Oh Jenna, I know you're in there." Steel called as he stepped towards the door. "And I know you have nowhere to go."

Steel looked up at the flimsy door. He could probably break it down with a couple hits with his full bodyweight if he had to. "Come on Jenna. Why don't you come out here? I know you're behind this door." The door tightened against the frame as Jenna put her weight up against it.

Smiling a broad grin, Steel shook his head and closed his eyes. "Fine Jenna, if you want to do it this way, I'll play your game." Steel turned and walked across the alley, getting as close to the other building as he could. He then turned and lined up with the door, dug his feet down into the snow, and bolted forwards. Steel pushed as fast and hard as he could with his body. Then at the last moment he jumped up and made contact to the door with all four paws at the same time. The door shuttered and creaked. The hinges threatened to fly apart. But the door remained standing. Steel landed on his back paws, threatened to fall over backwards, then came down and jumped back up, slamming his front paws into the door. "Come on Jenna! Open the door!" He dropped back down and turned to the opposite side of the alley again.

Jenna held her paws tight against the door. The first hit almost tore the door apart. She knew the door wouldn't handle many more hits like the first. She closed her eyes and thought about Balto.

Steel turned and lined up for another hit. "You should know Jenna, I will open this door, and I can do this all night long. I will beat you Jenna." Steel dug his paws in, tensed his muscles, and bolted for another hit.

But Steel didn't see the grey creature flying off the roof above the door out of the blowing snow. Didn't see the grey blur land just to his front left side. Didn't see the grey blur's teeth grab him by the back of the neck and swing; effectively turning Steel on his side and using his own forward momentum to throw Steel twice as hard into the door.

The door shuttered and cracked inwards at the center down to the bottom outside corner. It even cracked the doorframe and threatened to vibrate a nearby window out of the wall. The entire building shook, several hand tools fell down, and Jenna yelped in surprise. _Steel hit the door at least three times as hard as the first time_, Jenna thought putting her paws over the crack to keep it from breaking in on the next hit.

But Jenna didn't know Balto stood just outside, breathing hard from the three mile sprint he had just completed. "And you should know Steel." Balto took several deep breaths and eyed Steel down. "That I will beat you."

Steel looked up from the base of the door, and seeing Balto, growled ferociously. "Balto! I thought I took care of you already." Steel jumped to his feet, but his back right hip faltered as a look of pain spread across his face. Steel began to fall down. But he managed to catch himself and stand upright, gritting his teeth through the pain. "I'm going to tear you apart Balto."

Suddenly Steel jumped forwards, teeth flashing, front paws reaching out in slashing moves. Balto backed up as quick as Steel attacked. Then as Steel's attack slowed momentum, Balto leapt forwards with his teeth, making contact with the right side of Steels neck; but so did Steel with the left side of Balto's neck. Both of them tore at each other. The fight degenerated into savage violence and they became entangled as they kicked and thrashed at the others body. Each of them moving and vying to stop the other with quicker and faster moves.

Both of them crashed around the little alley, throwing the other into walls, boxes, and garbage cans. Several piles of garbage fell down around them and on them. They raked each other back over a pile of bricks under the snow and across smashed bits of wood and the sides of garbage cans. The bloodshed and speed of the fight increased as they moved around the alley snarling and creating a racket which could be heard all across town.

Then Steel managed to get a quick snap onto Balto's right front paw, and turning, flung Balto into the building across the alley under a large pile of crates. Balto dropped to the ground in a disheveled heap.

Steel paused to catch his breath, and in turn, nearly collapsed from the pain in his hip and exhaustion. Several open wounds bled rivulets through his fur. Yet he managed to keep upright as he stood defiant, growling at Balto.

Balto could hardly move. His entire body ached with open wounds which bled and discolored his fur and the snow below him. Blood came from his nose and mouth in little drips. Every part of Balto's body demanded him to quit and retreat; if he didn't pass out from exhaustion first. But Balto pushed his feet against the earth, struggling, shaking, to rise and fight again.

Steel jumped on Balto with both his front feet landing on Balto's wounded left shoulder; knocking Balto to the ground with a yelp of pain. "No … you…don't… wolfdog." Steel panted as he stood over Balto. "This is…something you're not…getting up from."

Balto looked up at Steel and felt his impending demise. He could already feel Steel's frosty-white teeth closing around his neck for the final kill. A grim darkness took Balto's to a distant image of his body lying in this alley, cold and stiff. He could see dogs and humans standing over his rigid corpse, pleased he departed for good.

Then Balto caught something out of the corner of his vision high up above them. Up on the third story of crates Balto could see a crate beginning to tip and sway precariously over him and Steel, as if waiting for just the right nudge to topple over. Then a rust colored tail, caught in a gust like a flag, flew out from behind the crate and disappeared again.

"And what…" Balto smiled as he began. "Will you gain…by…by killing me … Steel?"

Steel laughed. "This isn't about gaining anything … it's about loosing a problem." Steel stepped on Balto's chest and pushed his weight down. "Now say goodnight." Steel opened his jaws and focused towards Balto's throat, rounding his head back like a snake for a strike.

With one quick burst of last-reserve energy Balto curled around, putting his feet under him and standing up in line with Steel right shoulder. Steel's jaws came together with a metallic click inches from Balto's throat, but much closer to the snow. At the same moment Balto yelled out, "Now Jenna!"

Jenna pushed the crate forwards from her perch with a hard shove. The wood crate fell away from her, quickly racing towards the earth in a slow rotation.

Balto leapt away from Steel's side. The crate landed with the crunch of wood, followed by a blast of flying snow mixed in with a yelp of surprise. Somewhere underneath it flatted Steel.

Balto looked at the smashed crate through the cloud of snow, half expecting to see Steel jump up and rush him. But Steel remained silent, unconscious, his head sticking out through one side of the broken crate. His tongue lolled from the side of his mouth. He still breathed, and he even moved feebly and blinked his eyes. It wouldn't be long until he woke up and worked his way out of the mess he was in.

Balto looked away from Steel as Jenna jumped off the last crate to the ground She landed and ran up next to Balto.

"Are you alright?" They spoke at the same time. Then they smiled and spoke again at the same time. "Yes." They stared into each others eyes for a moment that seemed to last a lifetime.

Suddenly Jenna stepped forwards and nuzzled Balto's neck. "I thought you were dead. I didn't know if I would ever see you again."

Balto felt an abrupt flurry of emotions filling his body. He felt exalted by Jenna's intimate touch, proud to have saved her, blissful from seeing her up close, transcendent from her smell, and completed by her presence. Balto felt a familiar stammer for words working in his throat. Or it could have been the intermitted feelings of overpowering physical pain and dizziness overtaking him now and then? "I…just, you know … it was … nothing." Balto grinned, gasping for breath at each pause.

At their feet Steel groaned and tried to push a paw down under his body. "Uugghh … mmmuuggghh. Balto." He growled. "Whuugghhh." Steel began to move more, coming around much quicker than he should have. "I'll get you … uugghh." He muttered and began to push his paws under his body and lift the crate. "Don't think …mmm … you'll get away."

"Come on … Jenna." Balto said turning down the street. "We need to … get … out of here … before he … comes around."

Jenna and Balto walked quickly down the street into the snowstorm as Steel began to unravel himself from his mess. They could just make out Steel groaning about what a sneak Balto was. Together Balto and Jenna trotted and jogged along, traveling side by side through the darkened streets.

"Where are we going?" Jenna asked as they moved through the streets past shadows blacker than night and brightly lit windows.

Balto gave Jenna a sidelong look as he hobbled along, still very much in pain from the fight, the run, and everything. "Let's go … to my boat…. We'll be safe … for a while." Balto groaned between breaths.

Jenna stopped and Balto stopped a few feet ahead of her and looked back. "But we won't be safe there." Jenna began. "Steel's going to get up and he's going to get friends."

"I know." Balto replied solemnly as he turned and faced Jenna full on.

"And they're going to come looking for you. And the first place they're going to look is your boat"

"I know."

"And they're going to chase you away or kill you!"

"I know."

Jenna looked at Balto with wonder searing through her expression like a spotlight. "Then what are we going to do? I want us to be together Balto, I love you."

Balto's eye's widened at the remark. "And I love … love you, to Jenna." Balto replied without thinking about what he said. But as soon as the words left his mouth he felt their impact in his chest. His heart opened to Jenna and flooded over her with a radiance which made the night around them brighter. Balto felt lightheaded to the point he thought he would float away. Or perhaps he felt lightheaded from the blood loss; because as Balto stood he began to fall drunkenly towards his left side, but managed to catch himself with an outstretched paw. "Ohhh." Balto groaned.

"Are you alright Balto?" Jenna stepped closer to him, concerned. "Are you hurt?"

Balto shook his head. He felt terribly dizzy, much worse than before. "No, I just … need a second." He sat down in the snow and felt no better. "My heads swimming." He tried to smile.

Jenna didn't take it so lightly. "Balto's you're hurt, let me see." She stepped up close to Balto and looked him over in the dark. Dark spots of blood covered almost all of Balto's fur. But the larger lacerations made Jenna Gasp. "Balto…" She didn't quite know how to describe all the wounds he had; or even what to do about them. There were large cuts on both sides of Balto's neck, on both his shoulders, and down his back and hips. Jenna looked down at the snow and saw a small puddle of blood forming under his paws in the few moments he had stood there.

Balto began to lean drunkenly, this time to the right. His eyes blurred and everything began to turn black. "I think … I'm going… to…to …pass…" But he didn't finish as his body suddenly swayed and toppled forwards into the snow with a dead-weight thud, his eye's upturned in his skull.

* * *

"Ccoommee oonn Bbaallttoo." Jenna's voice resounded out of the darkness of Balto's mind, as if she stood at the far end of a long tunnel yelling at him. "Wwee nneedd ttoo kkeeeepp mmoovviinngg." She commanded.

Balto opened his eyes and he could see they had made it out of the town. He could also see the boat which stood only forty feet in front of him now. The snow blew around them, occasionally blocking the bow of the boat from sight as they moved towards it. Balto closed his eyes and may have passed out for a moment, because as soon as he opened them they stood right up next to the boat.

Oh, Balto felt sick to his stomach, cold, and with eyelids made of lead. Balto knew he would have given anything to just lie down and sleep for a few minutes - even a few seconds would have been a godsend. Slowly he turned his head to look through bleary eyes at Jenna.

Jenna walked along next to Balto, leaning heavily into him, almost to the point of carrying him. "Come on Balto wake up, were almost there, wake up."

Balto's feet moved instinctively forwards under his body. He hardly knew he was walking. Yet as Balto realized he was walking, and he tried to push his feet to do something more, his feet faltered and he fell forwards in the snow.

"Come on Balto, get up." Jenna said standing over him, exhausted herself. "It's only a few more feet." But Balto didn't move. "Come on Balto, you can't lie here, you'll freeze to death, and so will I." Balto didn't budge, and Jenna felt too tired to pick him up again.

Jenna looked around. She could hardly see more than ten feet in front of her nose now. At least they had made it out of town and most of the way to the boat. _Maybe I can bring the blanket down and keep him warm, _Jenna thought looking at the boat. She took one last look at Balto in the snow, asleep now. Jenna began to envy him in his peaceful look. "Don't worry Balto, I'm going to go get a blanket, I'll be right back." But Balto had already drifted off and probably didn't hear anything.

Jenna stepped forwards, making her way down the right side of the boat towards the gangplank with measured steps. She squinted her eye's against the snow and walked forwards, hoping the plank would reveal itself in some gust. "Come one Jenna, it's got to be right here." She took a few more steps, and then, for a moment, she saw it leaning against the boat. Jenna bolted to where she saw the plank.

Then, just as Jenna thought she would see the plank come through the snow in front of her, something suddenly stepped in her way. Something large, fuzzy, warm, and as white as the snow. Jenna felt a strike of terror grip her as she slid to a stop under the beasts nose and looked up at the polar bear standing above her, mumbling. Jenna's jaw slacked and she stared helplessly, unwilling, but ready, to be pounded into a pulp and eaten.

"Where's Balto?" Came a Russian voice just off to Jenna's right side out of the snow.

Jenna looked for the voice through the snow and darkness, and realized a goose was standing at her side. Then Jenna remembered what Balto said about his friends, two polar bears, and a goose. "Are, are you Balto's friends?" She said meekly.

"Yes! Yes!" Came another very excited voice off to Jenna's left. Jenna peered through the snow and saw another – much shorter polar-bear, standing next to the taller one. "Where is he? Where is Balto? I hope he's not hurt. Is he alright? He's been gone a long time."

Jenna turned back down the boat to where she left Balto. "He's this way."

The two polar bears and the goose followed Jenna through the snow back to where Balto lay, half buried and very unconscious.

"What happened to him?" The goose asked as he looked over Balto's fur. "He looks worse than a fish after he's been left out in the sun."

Jenna didn't know if the bird was making some sort of joke. "He … he saved me."

The bird shook his head and sighed loud enough to be heard over the wind. Jenna could hear him mumbling between Russian and english. She couldn't make out most of the words, but a few words she understood; 'love,' being the predominant one, and 'fool kid,' being another.

"Alright," Boris finally said. "Muk, scoop the boychick up onto Luk's back and let's get out of this weather; it's making my feathers ruffle."

The smaller polar bear scooped Balto up out of the snow and put him on the big bears back. Then the two of them waddled off towards the plank again, vanishing into the blowing snow.

Jenna then stood there, unsure of what to do or where she should go. She hadn't been invited in, but she felt she had a right to look over Balto's recovery, and to be here and help if Steel showed up. Jenna sat hesitantly as she waited in the darkness.

"Come with us and let's get out of this cold for the evening." The Russian voice said to Jenna out of the darkness. Jenna could hear him waddling away and then turn. "Are you coming or are you going to sit in the snow?"

Jenna didn't hesitate as she chased after the goose.

* * *

Out of the wind, inside the helm of the boat, with a few loose flakes coming in through the door and other cracks, Jenna learned all about Balto's friends. Jenna met Boris, a very loving goose with an attitude against bears and anything else which ruffled his feathers in the wrong direction. But he meant well in everything he said and did and looked over Balto like a caring father. Jenna also met Muk and Luk, the two polar bears who were very fun loving, warm, open, and … well, just children. And of course Jenna introduced herself to them.

Then the four of them looked over Balto who slept deeply, but remained quite alive. None of them could really do anything. Balto's wounds had sealed shut with scabs and frozen blood. And until he woke up he couldn't drink or eat. So all they could do until them would be to wait and look over him, snuggling close to keep him warm.

Time passed in slow breathes of eternity. Balto didn't stir. Muk and Luk slowly grew tired, and fell asleep on either side of Balto, eventually wrapping their arms over him and snuggling down. This left Jenna and Boris all alone with nothing to do but talk.

"So?" Boris whispered across the helm of the boat through the darkness and over the wind. Yet his voice remained quiet for the sleeping bears. "You are the famous Jenna?"

Jenna blushed internally from where she sat near the door. "Yes. What … has Balto said … I mean, has he said anything about me?" She replied in a whisper.

Boris grinned and shook his head, _Lovestruck pups,_ he thought. "Oh, nothing much. Just a few things here and there."

Jenna knew Boris was making her bite on the lead. But she had nothing better to do, so she bit. "Anything in particular?"

"Just that you were very pretty." Boris replied in a simple, uncaring, tone. "Like I said, nothing much."

Jenna felt a little taken aback at such a simple remark. Somewhere in her heart she had expect this bird, Boris, to jump up with joy and sing out a serenade of Balto's love. That or else squawk like a stool pigeon with noting left but beans to spill. "Oh." She said a little disheartened.

"Oh, that and he hasn't thought about anything else since the night he first tried to save you." Boris replied sharply.

"Really?" Jenna said with a glow in her heart.

"I think he was really smitten with you, especially when you rubbed your nose against his. I couldn't get him to think about anything else. He bumbled around, not even knowing where he was going to half the time."

Jenna turned away and blushed again as she bit her lip and felt an unnerving feeling rushing over her body; sort of like standing at the edge of a great abyss.

Boris sensed her unease. "Yes, Balto told me everything about you and him, except what happened tonight. I've never seen him so bad before."

Jenna realized she hadn't told them what happened, or about Steel and his vengeance - which may be going on right at the moment - so she related the story as best as she knew. She told about Balto suddenly showing up, and having an epic brawl with Steel. She then told about how they ran away as Steel was coming to, how Balto collapsed, and how she carried him here, not really knowing where else she could go.

As Jenna finished her story, Boris told Jenna the story about how Steel came out to the boat earlier in the day. He told about all he could hear of Steel and Balto talking, he told how Steel said Balto could never hope to match up to anything Steel could.

"I never saw him so hurt in his life." Boris said talking into his chest, reclining back with his feet outstretched now.

"Really?" Jenna said, realizing just how much Balto felt for her. She now lay on her stomach near the door.

"Yeah, but now what? I mean you can't leave Nome for him, and he can't come to Nome with you. What happens now?" Boris threw out. "You couldn't keep this sort of thing a secret."

Jenna realized she didn't know what she planned to do. "I don't know, I guess I haven't thought about it that much." She looked into her paws as if the answer might be written there. "I guess I'll come with you."

Boris smiled. This was the talk of true love he had been smelling for days. But the smile only hid what he ultimately knew Balto would have to tell Jenna, what he knew Balto had planned in his heart. Or at least what he supposed Balto had planned.

Then the two of them sat, and looked at Balto, both of them realizing Steel would be on his way to catch Balto. They would need to do something, or else, Balto would be dead meat. He certainly couldn't fight Steel in this shape. What would they do? What could they do?

* * *

Balto's eye's fluttered open, slowly coming back from a deep and wonderful sleep. The dreams of fanciful shapes and images faded away into the back of his skull, and Balto realized he had awoken, back in the real world. At first everything which happened in the past days seemed only a dream. But as Balto tried to put weight on his paws and stand, he realized, with a grimace, none of it had been a dream.

"Oohh," Balto groaned meekly.

"Balto!" Jenna voiced suddenly, her paws appeared in front of Balto's eyes.

Balto raised his head and looked into Jenna's eyes, tearful with pain, and bright with beauty. "Jenna, you're here." He smiled. "What happened?"

"You passed out, and I –"

"-Oh yeah, you come in with your fur all in a ruff," Boris started as he appeared to Jenna's side. "You battle Steel, and then you pass out from a little running. Some hero." He grinned and reached out to Balto, holding his head between his wings and looking Balto deep in the eyes. "But at least you're back and you're safe. We didn't know if you were ever going to wake up."

Balto felt the two polar bears at his sides begin to stir as Boris released his grip and stepped back. He realized with a smile, that he was surrounded by all his friends; his old friends all around, and in front of him – his new friend, Jenna. Balto then looked at Jenna. "What… what happened?"

"Oh, you just passed out and I carried you out here." Jenna replied simply with a huge grin on her face. "But that's not important right now, –"

"I know," Balto cut in. "What's important is that we're safe."

"But we're not safe," Jenna said sharply, shocked at Balto's statement. "Steel's going to figure out where we are, and then what are we going to do? You can't fight him again. And he's going to have a bunch of dogs with him. You can't possibly outrun him"

"I know." Balto replied with a big grin. "I've had some time to think about this." He pushed his paws under his body and came fully erect with a groan of pain. "But I think I know what we can do." Balto turned his head and looked at Luk on his right side. "We just need to play a little game with Steel to give us some time."

* * *

Steel ran ahead of the troop of dogs with a sharp pain in his hip, but he held it at bay and gritted his teeth with anger. Behind him all twenty dogs followed by two's and three's, their heads hung low like battering rams, or held high with teeth bared, ready to fight and tear at wolf-flesh. A red rage ran through their hearts and eye's like lights on a speeding train.

At the edge of town Steel paused and held back before rushing out into the darkness and the wind. Behind him the dogs all stopped and grouped together as they sensed Steel about to say something. The snow fell down around them and collected on their noses and shoulder.

Steel turned and looked over them with a long gaze. "We all come here because of a problem that has been living in our midst. H He's been living here more comfortably than we should have ever let him, stalking the shadows, scaring our children, and we've let this happen. We let out guard down, as well as our trust, and now he's struck and kidnapped one of the most beautiful huskies in the town - and attacked me when I tried to save her. Jenna has been taken, forcibly, by this wolfdog Balto. Is this something we're going to stand for?"

"NO!!!" Came the resounding answer as all twenty mouthed barked in unison.

"Are we going to let this wolf in our midst again?"

"NO!!" Twenty mouthed barked again.

"Then what are we going to do?" Steel said looking over them with another long look.

A quiet pause held the crowd. Then one skinny brown dog near the back suddenly yelled out. "We're going to tear the flesh from his bones!" Abruptly there came a cheer through the whole group as they came to life with the idea.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Steel said turning and rushing into the darkness the wind and the snow. The entire group followed after Steel, aiming towards the boat somewhere off in the distance.

* * *

The boat loomed ahead of them, silently and ghastly in their eyes – like a haunted house. The snow had lessened, and so had the wind. An indescribable tenseness began to brew in the dogs as they slowed up from their run. It felt almost like they were afraid, or possibly excited at what they would do.

Steel stopped and looked up at the boat. His hip had begun to throb a little more now. He slowly turned and raised his right paw to his lips and commanded the attention of all the dogs without a word. "sssshhhhh." He then stepped forwards. The rest following, padding silently along, the rage in the hearts no longer burning as bright.

At the very back of the troop of dogs a red and grey dog turned to the black dog next to him and whispered. "Hey, Amal,"

"What?" The dog responded in an annoyed whisper.

"I'm not afraid or nothing, but have you heard that wolves can … you know, control other animals?"

"What?" The dog said with mild shock.

"Yeah, like when we were pups, remember?"

"You mean in the stories?"

"Yeah. Who say's this Balto couldn't do that? Who says he couldn't control you or me, or even all of us. He could march us out onto the ice like the pied piper and leave us to die. I've heard stories told about Balto being seen around a polar bear."

The other dog grunted and rolled his eyes, annoyed. "Those are only silly tales they tell pups to keep them quiet when they misbehave. And as for Balto Being around polar bears, it's probably superstitious mumbo-jumbo."

"But are they really just stories? Or could it be true? Could Balto be -"

"-Just keep quiet." Amal growled.

The other dog zipped his lips shut and tried to bring some semblance of bravery into his gate. But as he walked under the bow of the boat with his eye's cast up at it's ghostly form, he had a feeling of being watched. Then he heard something crunch in the snow. It was right behind him and he turned and peered through the darkness and lightly falling snow. But he couldn't see anything.

"Did you hear that?" He said turning and rushing a few steps up to Amal side again. "I heard something."

"Would you keep quiet! You didn't hear anything. You're only imagining it." Amal whispered in exasperation. "Now just bite you tongue and keep moving."

The other dog tried to close his mouth again, but again he heard something. A footfall crunch through the snow, followed closely by another. It sounded big, and very close behind him.

"I know I heard something this time. There's something behind us. I'm telling you this Balto isn't someone to be messed with. He can control animals or something…" The dog paused as a grim thought entered his head. "What if he's not going to control us, but he's going to get control of a wolverine, or a polar bear, and attack us with it?"

Amal turned and faced his friend full on with exasperated weary in his eyes. "If we go back and look for this thing that I'm sure is in your mind, will you shut up?"

The other dog stared at Amal, unsure if he actually wanted to go and look.

"Fine, I'll go look." Amal said brushing his friend aside with his shoulder. The other dog turned and followed Amal away from the back of the troop into the darkness. They walked a dozen feet and Amal stopped and looked around as his friend came up to his side. "See, what did I tell you, nothing." Amal turned to his friend and put a confident paw on his shoulder. "It was all in your head, just like I said. Am I right?"

"Maybe your right." The other dog said sheepishly.

But then they realized something stood right next to them, towering over their heads and breathing heavily. They realized – without looking – that it was a bear, a great white bear. And they realized this fact with grim shock plastered in their eyes.

The bear growled a tremendous growl, shaking the dogs from where they stood and sending them flying back towards their friends shouting. "IT'S A BEAR, IT'S A BEAR, IT'S A BEAR!!!!"

Suddenly the troop of dogs turned and ran towards their screaming friends as the two dogs ran blindly into the pack, knocking four dogs down into a snarling heap. Confused, some tried to run away from the snarling teeth, others tried to fight and bite what they could.

Steel jumped to scene and tore the dogs off of each other, pulling them apart with his jaws, growling at them all. "Get a grip, get a hold of yourselves, there's no bear!"

Amal turned and pointed his paw to the great hulk lumbering towards them through the darkness. "Tell that to him!" He shouted.

Suddenly the dogs turned and looked at the polar bear coming through the darkness. The polar bear stopped six feet away and stood up on his back legs and let out a growl. The dogs all shuttered and cowered closer together.

"Hold you ground!" Steel shouted over the whimpering of his comrades. "It's only a polar bear cub."

The dogs seemed to relax a little. But then the skinny brown dog who had spoken up before they left the town yelled out. "But where there's a cub, there's a mother!"

And then, almost as if on cue, a tremendous growl came from up on the boat, echoing down over them all. The growl overshadowed the whimpering of the dogs, the sound of the wind. All the dogs started to scramble away from one another and scurry like mice from a fire. They bolted this way and that and headed towards the town again. At the lead of the scattered retreat Steel sprinted a good twenty feet in front of the next dog. Behind him in the main group of fearful dogs a red and grey dog ran next to a black dog. The red and grey dog shouted at the top of his lungs, "I told you he could control animals!!!"

* * *

Balto and Jenna both giggled as they watched the dogs scatter to the wind like leaves into a river. They watched the dogs rush this way and that with uncomprehending fear in their eyes. Then Balto and Jenna, followed by Muk, ran to the front of the boat and watched the dogs run and run and run towards Nome. Balto and Jenna began to giggle and laugh even harder at the retreating rescue team.

"Oh Balto that was a good one, I never would have thought to use that old garbage can to make me growl louder." Muk giggled from just behind Balto. He then turned and watched the dogs run away, whooping and growling at them as they went.

Behind them Luk scramble up the plank mumbling something, but laughing as well. He came up behind Muk. "mmmm mmm mmmmm, mmm!"

"Hey says he's never had so much fun in life." Muk translated.

"mmmm mmm mmmmmmm, mmmm. Mmmm?" Luk mumbled.

"Luk says he wants to do it again. Please?" Muk translated again.

Balto grinned and laughed. "If I knew how to do it, I would." But his eye's went cold as he noticed Jenna's distant look. "What is it Jenna?"

"I don't know." She said turning away. "What happens now?" She looked back at Balto, hopeful to hear what she dreamed of hearing.

Balto wanted to console her fears, to tell her they would run away together, to fly into the sky to be with each other for eternity. But he knew if he did they would only be lies. Balto felt he would give anything to see her smile again. But Balto knew Jenna would have to go back to the town, and he … he would have to leave Nome – for a while at least. Balto opened his mouth, to tell her he planned on leaving, and she would need to stay, when Boris cut between them, holding the ragged blanket in his wings.

Boris looked straight into Jenna's eyes. "I don't think Balto plans on you coming with us."

Jenna looked from Boris's face to Balto's. Balto lowered his eyes. "No, I don't."

"But, but-but?" Jenna stammered.

"Jenna." Balto cut in as he took a step around boris. "I can't ask you to give up what you have for me. I know how hard it is to live as an outcast, and I could never ask you, or ever let you, become one for me. Your place is there." Balto indicated towards Nome with a flick of his nose. "You belong there."

"But Balto … I love you."

Balto felt the words opening his heart like a flower blooming. "And I love you, but you need to trust me. One day I will come back, and there will come a time when I will be able to prove myself, not just to you, but to the whole town. Then we can be together."

"You can't be certain of that though." Jenna snapped. "How could you –"

"I'm not asking you to believe what I'm saying Jenna. I'm asking you to trust me without believing what could be." Balto nudged closer to Jenna, right up next to her face now. Balto felt as if he were on the cusp of exploding. His face turned puppyish and loving. "Please Jenna, I love you."

Jenna's eye's visibly softened. Yet her mind looked to be making a rebuttal against her heart "Okay, Balto, I will." Her eye's fell. "When will I get to see you again?"

"I don't know Jenna. Be patient, I'll come find you when the times right." Balto replied, his face still pleading.

Tears built up in the corner of her left eye, she began to sob "And what should I do about Steel?"

Balto grinned. "Give him a good hit in the hip when he wants to say something to you. I think it will bother him for a while. That, and always remind him that you are not interested."

Jenna smiled as a tear rolled down her face. "Thanks Balto." She suddenly pushed her nose forwards, connecting with Balto's, and then parting. "Thanks."

Balto smiled and felt a magnificent warmth grow in his heart which quickly spread to his entire body. Even the cold wind seemed to get warmer.

Boris laid the Blanket over Jenna's shoulders. "You might need this after we go. It's awfully cold"

"Thank you Boris." She sobbed.

* * *

Jenna watched Balto, Boris, and the two polar bears Muk and Luk retreat across the dark tundra towards the mountains to the North East. The storm no longer flared with such intensity. A few stars poked through a few holes in the grey clouds above. But the wind remained, blowing gusts of snow across their tracks as they left; which was a blessing in disguise. Jenna tried to smile from under the folds of the blanket as the wind bit her nose and swept her breath away.

Jenna sat on the bow of the boat and watched them go until they appeared to be just dots on the landscape. She watched them until they crested a distant hill, and then for a moment she thought she saw Balto turn and look back at her. Then they disappeared and Jenna felt terribly alone and without a bit of love in the world.

For a while longer Jenna sat on the boat wondering if she should go back to the town. Or should she just stay until someone showed up? She tried to weight the options in her mind, but could only think of Balto. She missed him so much already. How could she possibly wait for him to return? Eventually she just decided to stay put until the dogs came back. Jenna began to cry and sob under her blanket. She couldn't wait to see Balto again.

It didn't take long for the dogs to return with fifteen other dogs in tow – including Jenna's mother and father. They quickly overran the boat, barking and making a terribly racket, cursing and demanding Balto to come out and face them. Then they spread away from the boat searching for tracks.

"Where's Balto?" Jenna faintly heard her mother say over her shoulder as she sat starting, tired, lost, and uncaring. Jenna stood, letting the blanket ruffle to the deck of the boat, refusing to reply or make eye contact as she moved past her mother to the plank. "Jenna, don't ignore me. Did Balto do something to you? … Answer me!"

As Jenna reached the plank she heard the voice of someone she now despised with all her heart, Steel. She turned and looked at him standing with her father at the back of the boat scanning the ice. They talked diligently on where Balto could have gone. Neither of them noticed her.

"I bet he left on the sea ice." Jenna's father said scanning the ice as far as he could. "That way there would be no tracks."

"He could have. Or he might have left while it was windy, let the snow cover his tracks." Steel replied.

"Very well could have. What we need to do now is –"

"Ahem," Jenna cleared her throat, turning Steel and her father around to her.

"Jenna!" Steel exclaimed, his eyes flashing left and right. "I'm glad you're fine. Balto didn't do anything to you, did he?"

Jenna looked at her father, his eyes pleading for her to answer. "I'm fine," She looked away from them, "I just need time." She turned, quickly trotted down the plank, and headed to the town and her shed. She hardly noticed the walk. It passed so quickly. Her mind felt numb to the eyes which watched her pass. The dogs came out in droves to see what the fuss was about. They looked at the raucous happening on the boat and began to spread rumors. Muttered words about Balto and Jenna flew from their ears to their mouths.

Jenna didn't hear any of it. She walked by them with her eye's held low. Suddenly Jenna found herself outside her shed. Quietly she went inside, not bothering to try and close the open door. There Jenna lay down on the mattress. She fell asleep with her paws over her tear-filled eye's.

The End


	5. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The next day there came word that Steel, with a small band of followers, had tracks Balto to the far river. From there they split up in different directions. The other dogs came back to town in a matter of hours without finding anything but cold and hunger. But Steel stayed out past sunset. When Steel returned to town he told a story on how he had tracked Balto to a cave above a waterfall, where Steel beat Balto by throwing him into the river. At first Jenna thought Steel had caught Balto and thrown him into the river. But she knew better than to believe another one of Steel's lies, and so she didn't; even though everyone else did.

Jenna refused to speak to her mother and father about what happened with Balto and Steel, or why she was out on the boat She knew if she did they would only assume she lied, or was afraid to tell the truth because Balto had threatened her. So she let them assume the worst.

She also refused to speak or even walk on the same side of the street as Steel. Steel seemed to sense this and stayed away for a while. Eventually he came around to talk to Jenna, and Jenna made sure to tell Steel what was up, and assert herself by bringing Steel to the ground with one terrible hit to his wounded leg. Steel got he message for the time.

For a while the town became awash in stories about Balto and Jenna. Most of the stories said Jenna had been kidnapped by Balto, but a few said Jenna had run away with Balto. Jenna refused to acknowledge or deny any of the stories. After a few week the stories went away. Dogs no longer feared the night, and life returned to normal.

All except for Jenna, who wanted nothing more than to see Balto. Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. The weather became worse, the nights became longer, and winter passed into summer. Soon even Jenna forgot about Balto and began to believe he would never return. Her life returned to other forms of happiness. She went out with friends, gabbed about this or that, and occasionally speculated in boys. Yet she had a vague sense everything about her was hollow.

Occasionally when the hollowness grew Jenna would stray to the west of town where she could look out at the boat. And every time she did she expected to see his distant ghostly form standing on the rail. But it never happened. He was never there.

Summer passed into winter again. Jenna grew out of her teenage body and into a fully blossomed adult. In a few weeks the Nome 500 was set to begin again, and this time Steel was to be a prime contender. Steel's father had passed away over the summer, and had passed the golden collar on to him by default. Now he wore it wherever he went, showing it off for all the ladies. Jenna made the mistake of taking pity on Steel for his loss. Which made Steel's face showed up more often in her life – which looked to be perpetuating her eventual fall into his life.

But then one night Jenna took a walk with Dixie to try and unwind her recent encounter with Steel. But Dixie wanted to talk about Steel and the upcoming race and the collar on his neck and nothing else. Jenna tried to ignore her. Eventually they made their way, quiet by accident, to the west end of town near the telegraph office. And then Jenna looked towards the boat, thinking about him, wondering if he would ever return.

At first Jenna thought her mind deceived her. It couldn't be. It had to be some trick of the light to cast that shadow. Yet she knew it was him standing on the bow of the boat looking at the town. She watched his distant form move down off the rail, and she knew it wasn't a trick. Jenna's heart leapt in her chest, for he had come back like he said he would.


End file.
